British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's chief of staff, Sue Gray, resigned on Sunday after rumors emerged of tensions inside his advisory team, casting a shadow over his government barely greater than three months after a landslide election victory.
Gray, a former senior civil servant, was the topic of leaks about her salary to the media last month and was blamed for Starmer's difficult start in Downing Street by some officials who spoke to the media anonymously.
“Over the last few weeks, it has become clear to me that intense commentary on my position risks distracting from the government’s important change work,” Gray said in an announcement.
Starmer led the Labor Party to a shocking victory in July, promising discipline and alter after 14 years of Conservative Party rule. But his term in office had already been marked by criticism of free gifts from wealthy donors that he and other Labor politicians had received.
Starmer has returned hundreds of kilos value of gifts to his office said last weekhowever the figures were politically damaging at a time when his government is cutting financial support for hundreds of thousands of pensioners' energy bills.
Gray will take up a brand new post as Starmer's envoy to the regions and nations, the Prime Minister's Office said.
She might be replaced by Morgan McSweeney, who was previously the prime minister's chief adviser, it said.
Gray was hired by Starmer in 2023 when his Labor Party was in opposition. The appointment was considered controversial because she had led a government inquiry into parties in Downing Street in 2022, when the Conservative Party's Boris Johnson was prime minister. Johnson left Downing Street in 2023.
Starmer announced further changes to his advisory team and the creation of a brand new strategic communications team led by James Lyons, a former senior journalist at British newspapers.
A vital month lies ahead for Starmer and his finance minister Rachel Reeves as they announce their first tax and spending plans a budget statement on October thirtieth.
The Conservatives said Starmer's government had been “plunged into chaos” first by criticism of the freebies after which by Gray's resignation.
“Sue Gray was brought in to deliver a program for government and all we have seen in that time is self-service government,” a celebration spokesman said.
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