In our final entry for 2023, Max Stafford considers the impact that the former civil servant Sue Gray has had on the Labour Party and its preparations for government since becoming Sir Keir Starmer's Chief of Staff in September.
A year ago, I wrote a blog that explored Keir Starmer’s search for a new Chief-of-Staff. At the time, I pointed to the wisdom of repeating a historical pattern (Jonathan Powell for Tony Blair, Ed Llewellyn for David Cameron, etc) of appointing someone who had both experience of Whitehall and good networked links with the Civil and Diplomatic Services. Indeed, some of the briefings I had been reading at the time even went so far as to suggest Sue Gray’s name for the role - though I must confess that I disregarded this, at the time, as probably being the product of over-egged gossip. As will by now be quite apparent, I was forced to eat humble pie on this latter point just three months later.
Gray did become Starmer's Chief-of-Staff and, as it stands, seems set to carry out the equivalent role (Downing Street Chief-of-Staff) if Labour win the next election. Indeed, the choice of Gray rather pointed to increasing confidence amongst Starmer’s team that they will be in government soon. After all, doesn’t the appointment of a strong Whitehall networker indicate that Starmer believes that he needs a well-connected insider for the preparation of transition talks, nearer to the election? Two weeks ago, Westminster Insider revealed that these talks have not yet commenced, with Starmer currently seeking to cement the policy agenda that he wants such discussions to centre upon. However, when they do, it is likely that Gray will be echoing Powell’s 1996-1997 work to engage senior civil servants with the Labour operation.
This, then, may be one of the key things that Gray brings to the role. If she is appointed to lead the transition efforts, she will become as important to Starmer over the next year as his proposed Chancellor, Rachel Reeves. Expect Gray to have already surveyed the internal (Starmer’s team and working practices) and external (media, links to the party machinery, civil servants) landscapes and identified the key challenges ahead. Westminster Insider’s podcast expressed surprise that Labour have not yet begun transition talks. This is less surprising when one also reads the media briefings suggesting that Starmer is currently taking time to review the party’s policy offering, seeking to make sure that it is “bombproof” (in other words, able to withstand media probing and Tory attack lines). Steve Richards’ recent book revealed that Blair undertook a similar exercise ahead of the 1997 General Election. Gray will know of this prior practice (any half-decent Leader of the Opposition should be expected to do this) and will, of course. As a former civil servant, she will also be aware of how much more productive transition talks can be when this sort of thing is more “nailed down” and less subject to sudden U-turns once the campaigns are over and the hard work of governing begins.
In this, Gray will surely be working closely with another Starmer ally who brings significant government experience. In September, Pat McFadden was appointed to head the Shadow Cabinet Office team. This was matched by simultaneous promotion to the role of heading Labour’s election co-ordination. His background is on the party-political, rather than official, side. He was a senior special adviser to Blair (including ending up as Deputy Downing Chief-of-Staff) and went on to serve as a minister in the later years of the New Labour government. It seems likely that he’ll also be central to transition efforts. This combination of an experienced former civil servant and senior political adviser/minister could prove a potent force behind the party’s efforts to “get up and running” in government. Neither of them are likely to give many interviews or speeches in the coming months (especially Gray, given her backroom status) but it will be telling to see how much store “Labour insiders” put by their decisions and influence during the countdown to Polling Day.
Meanwhile, Gray has reputedly been proving very effective at resolving party conflicts. For instance, she’s credited with being a key facilitator of the talks between Starmer and those Labour MP’s calling for a line more sympathetic to Palestine in the past two months. As one civil servant told Politico, resolving these kind of policy conflicts is the sort of thing that Gray spent years doing in Whitehall under previous governments. Irrespective of the individual concerned, Starmer must feel the value of appointing such an experienced Chief at moments such as these.
It is this self-assurance, and ability to inspire confidence in others, that may yet pay the greatest dividends for Starmer and his wider team. Oliver Letwin, one of David Cameron’s most trusted ministers and central to the former prime minister’s policy operation, once remarked, 'it took me precisely two years before I realised who it is that runs Britain ... unless she agrees, things just don't happen'. The “she” was Gray, and she was Head of Proprietary and Ethics in the Cabinet Office at the time referred to. In this role, her duties included vetting senior civil servants and ministers for their roles (for instance, at the time of new permanent secretaries being appointed or cabinet reshuffles). It was her dogged determination in this role that led to her heading up the Partygate investigation, after the Cabinet Secretary recused himself, in 2022. One might, thus, expect that she is also central to “bombproofing” Starmer’s proposed post-election teams.
In recent interviews that I’ve been conducting for my research project into the Downing Street Chief-of-Staff (the role and its significance since 1997), I spoke to several former special advisers. One of them told me that, after a few years, he sought to have his role restructured in such a way that allowed for a better work-life balance. The permanent secretary of the relevant department raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest and referred him to Gray (then in her Cabinet Office role). She was already legendary as an effective operator who gave clear decisions, so it is fair to say that this particular special adviser was somewhat nervous about meeting her. After an hour, Gray had managed to ensure that all relevant rules were being observed and sent the adviser back to his department with an instruction to tell the permanent secretary that “Sue Gray says not to worry about it, because it’s fine.” Even years later, it was apparent how much confidence this interaction with Gray gave the adviser. So, picking up on this theme, I asked them what impression of Gray they got from the meeting. I can think of no better way to end this blog than leave you with their description of her:
She's both lovely and f**king scary! Lovely, because she's an easy person to talk to and raise problems with. Scary, because I'm not sure I've ever met anyone as knowledgeable about how government really works.
Dr Max Stafford is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Mile End Institute and is currently a Teaching Fellow at the University of Southampton. He is writing a book examining mayors as political leaders, and another examining the changing role of the Downing Street Chief of Staff.