Sue Gray Resigns
On Sunday, 6 October, Sue Gray, Chief of Staff to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, resigned from her post, following weeks of scandals and intense speculation from media, politicians, and the general public alike. Gray’s decision to quit hardly came as a shock, as it typified the trials and tribulations that the Labour Party has been enduring since they retook control of the British government following July’s General Election. Her resignation was accompanied by a statement saying that it had “become clear to (her) that intense commentary around (her) position risked becoming a distraction to the government’s vital work of change”, and that she would instead be accepting a position as the Prime Minister’s ‘envoy for the nations and regions’, a role created specifically for Gray that is likely to take her out of the public eye, at least temporarily. The role will see Gray work closely to bridge the existing gap between centralised leadership in London with devolved governments in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, as well as mayors throughout England. While the Labour Party has suffered many a scandal in the just over 100 days of their leadership, it has been widely acknowledged that Gray’s position became untenable when the BBC revealed that her salary was marginally higher than that of the Prime Minister himself, earning £170,000 (€204,394) a year compared to his £166,786 (€200,514) a year. While the difference in salary may not seem radically disparate, it was widely seen as a sign of weakness for Starmer that his top aide was making more money than him, with one ‘insider’ remarking that “It speaks to the dysfunctional way No10 is being run – no political judgement, an increasingly grand Sue who considers herself to be the deputy prime minister, hence the salary and no other voice for the prime minister to hear as everything gets run through Sue”.
Sue Gray’s Rise to Prominence
Sue Gray’s on-and-off work for the government began in the 1980s, when she worked for the Departments of Health, Transport, and Work and Pensions, before moving to the Cabinet Office in the late 1990s. A largely unheard of civil servant until just a few years ago, Gray’s star turn occurred in late 2021, when she assumed the role of the chief investigator into the ‘Partygate’ scandal, which involved parties held by senior Conservative government officials – most notably then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson and then-Chancellor of the Exchequer and future Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak – during the height of the COVID pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. The written findings of the ‘Partygate’ investigation, which became known as the ‘Sue Gray Report’, found that there were “failures of leadership and judgement in No 10 and the Cabinet Office” and that “the senior leadership at the centre, both political and official, must bear responsibility”. Less than a year after Gray’s report was published, she left the civil service to become Chief of Staff for Keir Starmer, who was then leader of the opposition. This appointment, however, was not without contention, as it was later found by the government that Gray had “broke(n) civil service rules” by “failing to declare contact with (the) Labour (Party) over a job offer”, as civil servants are politically impartial by nature, and not intended to have direct affiliation with any party. As Gray was not working for the government at the time of the findings, she was immune from retroactive punishment, meaning she could not be charged before coming into office and the controversy quickly subsided.

Sue Gray was a figure that largely operated in the shadows of British Politics, until she was thrust into the spotlight due to her role in the investigation into the then-Conservative Government’s ‘Partygate’ Scandal (iNews)
Sue Gray in Downing Street
Gray worked as Chief of Staff for the Leader of the Opposition for exactly 10 months, and following the Labour Party’s landslide victory in the July 2024 General Election, assumed the same role in Keir Starmer’s government. It was less than a month into this tenure before cracks began to show, as Gray became an increasingly prominent force within the administration, with one Labour source lamenting that “There has been a massive centralisation under Sue Gray. Under the last government, four people controlled what went into the PM’s box and now it’s one. Things have slowed down. She’s put herself into a position where she is extraordinarily powerful”, controversially adding that “There’s a suspicion that she’s making a lot of decisions on the PM’s behalf and that he wouldn’t necessarily agree with them”. While there is no direct information on how Gray was able to amass such power in such a short period of time, analysts have pointed to her previously strong relationship with Starmer as a sign of what was to come.
Tensions only grew when the government became embroiled in the so-called ‘Freebies’ scandal, when it emerged that Keir Starmer had allegedly neglected to officially declare a gift of £5,000 (€6,001) worth of clothes for his wife, Victoria, from prominent Labour Party donor Lord Waheed Alli. It eventually emerged that the Starmer household had received an additional £16,000 (€19,205) worth of clothes from Alli, who reportedly received a security pass giving him temporary unfettered access to Downing Street. It was found by Reuters that Starmer had “declared more than 100,000 pounds (€120,030) in gifts, benefits and hospitality” in the past 5 years, putting his head and shoulders above any other member of parliament (MP) in that regard.
Gray’s Resignation and Future
When it was eventually revealed that Gray was raking in more than Starmer, the Labour Government, already under intense scrutiny, had little choice not to internally push for Gray’s resignation, seemingly primarily for the purpose of temporarily removing her from the spotlight, and redirecting the focus of the media and the general public back to their ongoing governance efforts. While it is unlikely to envision Gray returning to the forefront of British politics within the near future, it would seem highly unlikely that this event will mark the end of her time in the spotlight.
Featured image:
Sue Gray, right, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer – the Latter Resigned on 6 October Following a Series of Scandals. (BBC News)