At 8.30 a.m. each morning, Keir Starmer holds a meeting with his inner circle to go over the business of the day. Once, these meetings were mainly filled with unelected aides, but now they are attended by senior shadow ministers, such as Labour’s campaign co-ordinator and Blairite old-timer Pat McFadden or the shadow cabinet office minister and Brown-ite Jonathan Ashworth. Starmer’s deputy, Angela Rayner, may drop in too. If Rachel Reeves can’t make it, one of her shadow treasury aides goes in her place.

The new setup is one of the many measures Sue Gray has brought in since she was appointed Starmer’s chief of staff a year ago. Her aim is to strengthen ties between the Labour leader and his shadow cabinet. She has also reached out to Labour’s regional mayors who had been he subject of vicious briefings by Starmer’s aides. The fact that London mayor Sadiq Khan and the new First Minister of Wales, Vaughan Gething, attended shadow cabinet this week is a sign of improved relations. Her goal is to ensure that once Starmer is in power his standing in the party will be strong enough to endure the turbulence of office.

Her work is already dividing opinion. There are ongoing reports of a rift between her and Starmer’s male-heavy team, referred to dismissively by female members of shadow cabinet as ‘the boys’. ‘Sue is definitely more of a good thing than a bad thing, but it would be lying to say there haven’t been teething issues,’ says a shadow minister.

As prime minister, Gordon Brown said Gray was his go-to woman for help in a crisis

Gray’s critics see her as a civil service automaton who knows little about politics and even less about the Labour party. Some blame her for making Starmer slow-footed on key announcements, such as the painfully delayed decision to ditch the £28 billion green spending pledge.

QOSHE - Inside Sue Gray’s Labour party - Katy Balls
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Inside Sue Gray’s Labour party

8 2
28.03.2024

At 8.30 a.m. each morning, Keir Starmer holds a meeting with his inner circle to go over the business of the day. Once, these meetings were mainly filled with unelected aides, but now they are attended by senior shadow ministers, such as Labour’s campaign co-ordinator and Blairite old-timer Pat McFadden or the shadow cabinet office minister and Brown-ite Jonathan Ashworth. Starmer’s deputy, Angela Rayner, may drop in too. If Rachel Reeves can’t make it, one of........

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