Sir Keir Starmer is poised to withdraw the offer of a new job to his former chief of staff Sue Gray, according to media reports.
Ms Gray was due to take up a role as “envoy to the nations and regions”, after she resigned from her position at the heart of Government in October.
This followed intense media speculation about turmoil at the heart of Downing Street.
The former chief of staff was said to be on a short break before taking up her new post, but reports across the media suggest the Prime Minister is now likely to rescind the job offer over concerns about what exactly the role would entail.
Downing Street had previously described her new role as a “vital role in strengthening our relations with the regions and nations”.
Gray resigned from her role as Starmer’s chief of staff almost six weeks ago, after finding herself at the centre of a political storm. Starmer shook up his entire top team after facing intense pressure to put an end to the hostile briefings that had at times overshadowed his first 100 days in office.
The senior official, who had spent decades as a civil servant and became a household name after Boris Johnson asked her to investigate the Partygate scandal, was replaced by Morgan McSweeney, who masterminded Labour’s general election victory, and with whom she sometimes found herself at odds in government.
Downing Street announced at the same time that Gray would take on a new government role as the prime minister’s envoy for the regions and nations.
But she failed to attend Starmer’s inaugural gathering of the council of nations and regions, intended to reset relationships and boost growth in every part of the UK.
After her appointment, Gray said she was standing down as chief of staff because it had “become clear to me that intense commentary around my position risked becoming a distraction to the government’s vital work of change”.
In a statement, she added: “I am pleased to have accepted a new role as the prime minister’s envoy for the regions and nations. After leading the Labour party’s preparation for government and kickstarting work on our programme for change, I am looking forward to drawing on my experience to support the prime minister and the cabinet to help deliver the government’s objectives across the nations and regions of the UK.”
