What has become of Sue Gray, the Prime Minister’s former Downing Street chief of staff, who was rather unceremoniously removed from her official duties earlier this month? At the time of her defenestration, there was much soothing talk about how she was moving to an important new role as Keir Starmer’s envoy on a new council of nations and regions. This body, according to official briefings, is intended to reset relationships and boost growth in every part of the UK. The new job was supposed to start immediately as part of a seamless transition that saw her replaced as chief of staff by Morgan McSweeney, who oversaw Labour’s victorious election campaign. At the time of her exit, Gray herself said she was leaving the role because it was ‘clear to me that intense commentary around my position risked becoming a distraction’. That was one way of putting it. Another less diplomatic summary of events would be to say that she had become the story after weeks of leaks and briefings against her, and had been sidelined after losing a bitter internal power struggle inside No. 10.
Gray’s departure was explained away as part of a much bigger masterplan involving a ‘reset’ of Starmer’s Downing Street team after a disastrous first three months in office. It was believed that Gray would take up the envoy role immediately but it later emerged that she would be taking a ‘short break’ between jobs. This meant she missed the inaugural meeting in Edinburgh of the new council of nations and regions on 11 October. In attendance were the Prime Minister, alongside the first ministers from the devolved governments as well as regional mayors. Gray’s absence rather overshadowed events. The council is next due to reconvene in spring 2025. It is anyone’s guess whether Gray will be in attendance then.
What has happened to her? Gray left the Downing Street chief of staff role on 6 October. Little light has been shed on her plans since then and nothing concrete has been revealed about when she might actually start the new job. No one even knows for sure whether it is full-time or part-time. Asked when she might start, the No. 10 spokesman told reporters: ‘I haven’t got an update since when I previously said she was taking a short break between roles and will be taking up duties in the future.’
Where she is and what she plans to do really should not be a mystery
What those precise duties might be hasn’t been divulged, with the envoy role yet to be publicly defined in any meaningful way. Meanwhile, that ‘short break’ appears to have become a tad longer, with no firm end date in sight. Downing Street is also being rather tight-lipped about whether the holiday is paid or unpaid leave. Mystery also surrounds what Gray might be getting paid in the new role. Is she still earning the £170,000 salary she was on as one of the PM’s most senior aides? The revelation that she was being paid more than Starmer was just one of the controversies dominating her short time in the Downing Street bunker. Here too the mystery deepens, with the No. 10 spokesman remaining tight-lipped: ‘I’m not going to get into HR issues.’ It’s a simple question really, and very little to do with HR. Is she still being paid, and exactly how much, while she mulls over a start date?
These issues are of interest because of the persistent questions and rumours about what actually happened in Downing Street when it came to deciding Gray’s fate. There have been unconfirmed reports that she has been pressing for a pay-off or alternatively a pay rise to take up her new role. There have also been rumours that she might be given a peerage, which would only add to the bloated numbers in the House of Lords. Where she is and what she plans to do really should not be a mystery. Gray is, dare one say, once again becoming a distraction. We should be told pronto what has become of her.