No10 Chief of Staff - one of the hardest jobs in Government
Someone’s attacking Sue Gray, the PM’s Chief of Staff. What does the Times story about a funding row in Northern Ireland tell us about Keir Starmer’s Government?
Chief of Staff is a tough gig. Almost every decision which lands on a Prime Minister’s desk is a tough one. If a problem was easy to solve, someone else would have dealt with it further down the food chain. And the Chief of Staff is – along with the Prime Minister’s Principal Private Secretary [a role I have written about here] – responsible for keeping the wheels turning in Number 10. A lot is resting on them. That’s not to say we should crack out a tiny violin. Anyone putting themselves forward for senior Government roles should have a tough skin. They are demanding jobs because they matter - not just for Government but for the country.
The role of Chief of Staff is a relatively new position in Whitehall. It dates back to the start of Tony Blair’s Downing Street. In 1997 Jonathan Powell, a former mid-ranking civil servant, was appointed Chief of Staff. He served until the end of Blair’s time in office – a full decade. That’s longer than anyone since. [David Wolfson also held the title Chief of Staff for some years under Margaret Thatcher but I don’t think the role was quite the same then].
As the most senior political person in Downing Street, other than the Prime Minister, the Chief of Staff is often under scrutiny. Even when things are going well, it’s easy to find critics. When they go wrong (and they often do), suddenly everyone’s a critic.
Sue Gray was an eyebrow raising appointment by Keir Starmer. Civil servants had jumped ship before – and not just to Labour. A former Cabinet Secretary had even [unwisely in my view] endorsed a political party. But Sue was a more senior and more prominent hire than, say, Jonathan Powell. She was especially famous/infamous (depending on your position) for what has universally become known, despite its bland title, as the Sue Gray report.
Her last job in Government was as Permanent Secretary with specific responsibility for the Union. Previously she was head of the Finance Department in the Northern Ireland Executive, and before that was the long-standing and well-known (within Whitehall at least) Head of Propriety and Ethics for Government.
The Coalition-era Policy Minister Oliver Letwin reportedly said (perhaps with his tongue slightly in his cheek):
‘It took me precisely two years before I realised who it is that runs Britain. Our great United Kingdom is actually entirely run by a lady called Sue Gray, the head of ethics or something in the Cabinet Office. Unless she agrees, things just don’t happen.’
In the months before the General Election, and after her arrival in Keir Starmer’s office, there were already occasional briefings against Sue from Labour circles. Journalists were on the receiving end of criticisms and invective. Starmer reportedly threatened to sack those who were attacking his hand-picked top adviser.
I expected this all to restart in the coming weeks. But you would think that now, not even a fortnight from a historic Labour victory in the General Election, the briefings would have calmed.
So it’s somewhat surprising to read a piece in the Times tonight attacking Sue Gray. The story is by Gabriel Pogrund and Patrick Maguire - authors of a fascinating book, Left Out, on the chaos of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party. It makes the sidebar of the paper’s cover.
The Times headline reads:
‘Sue Gray accused of ‘subverting cabinet’ over Belfast stadium bailout
Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff accused of dominating talks over a £310m payment to rebuild Casement Park in time for Euro 2028’.
Their story quotes –
‘a Whitehall source criticising her involvement as “an unelected member of staff spending public money on an area of interest to them, subverting cabinet”.
“It’s constitutionally improper,” the source added’.
It continues to note that -
‘Another person involved in conversations about the stadium suggested Gray had shown a closer interest in Casement Park than in the province’s health service. It is understood no public money has been spent on the stadium’.
The story also references that the Casement Park project is ‘politically contentious’ in Northern Ireland – and quotes a Stormont source describing Gray as ‘very close’ to the Sinn Fein finance minister (whose department she used to run).
Pogrund and Maguire also write that ‘Gray’s close interest in the project…has caused resentment among Labour ministers who have been told there is no money for new spending commitments’.
It’s hard to unpick the whole story.
As the piece makes clear no money has yet been spent.
The broad accusation is that the ‘unelected’ Chief of Staff has views and is interfering.
Hmmm. Here I am a little cynical….
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to TheWhitehallProject to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.