UK politics live: Starmer under dual fire from Labour big beasts over budget delay and Sue Gray row

Sue Gray has been accused of causing friction among top team aides and chaos inside Downing Street.

Staff warned Sir Keir Starmer that he had to “get a grip” on his administration after weeks of rows and internal tensions during the party conference.

Aides reportedly told the prime minister that the chief of staff was at the heart of the problem, accusing Ms Gray of being a divisive figure inside No 10.

Ministers including John Healey this morning have stood by her praising her work in government. But others have accused Ms Gray of alienating some of her colleagues, who slammed her for “control freakery”, and accused her of creating a bottleneck that delayed policy decisions.

She prompted further anger after a leak revealed she was paid £170,000, more than Sir Keir, while other special advisers had their pay cut delayed.

Sir Keir Starmer’s government has “completely lost grip”, a former senior adviser to Tony Blair said.

John McTernan said the Labour government was “delivering drift” rather than change after losing Sue Gray as No 10 chief of staff.

Asked what had gone wrong, he said: “The government has completely lost grip, I think, a grip on their operations, a grip on the media grid and they don’t dominate communications and that has been because they have lacked a political narrative and the political drive and the momentum that drove them through the election to a great victory.”

But Sir Tony’s former political secretary said the campaign strategy that led the party to government has now been exhausted.

Mr McTernan added: “That seemed to run out after the sitting weeks ended in July and we got into the recess of August. It just went from the country demanding change to a government delivering drift.”

John Healey has rejected suggestions the government is already at “crisis point” after Sue Gray stepped down as chief of staff within three months of Labour winning the election.

The defence secretary praised Ms Gray as having a “great talent” for “bringing people together” and described her as a “natural team player” who “raises the standards of those around her”.

Asked how he would characterise the Labour administration and whether it was at “crisis point”, Mr Healey told LBC: “No, I’d characterise this as a new government getting on with the job.”

He refused to be drawn on whether Ms Gray’s new role as envoy to the regions and nations was salaried or whether she would be elevated to the House of Lords, saying: “None of those are decisions for me.”

Asked whether her new position was paid, Mr Healey said: “She has this great talent, Sue Gray, to bring people together, she’s a natural team player and she raises the standards of those around her.”

Continuing his morning media round, the defence secretary has insisted that there is a “strong team at Number 10” who is “getting on with the job” despite Sue Gray stepping down.

John Healey told the BBC that the former chief of staff had contributed to helping Labour prepare for government, but had “become a distraction”.

He said: “As she said herself yesterday she’d become a distraction with the commentary that was removing the focus on the government’s job of working for change, and that’s why she’s stepped aside.”

Mr Healey added: “But the important thing is we’ve got a strong team at Number 10, the prime minister’s got a strong team across government and in parliament, and we’re a government determined and continuing to get on with the job.”

Sue Gray, who rose to fame when she was handed responsibility for untangling the ‘Partygate‘ saga, has resigned as Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff and will take up a new role in government.

Ms Gray said she was standing down 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”.

Concerns over the power of Ms Gray in government were recently raised when it was revealed she is paid more as chief of staff than the prime minister.

Here’s everything you need to know about the former senior civil servant:

The chancellor is expected to call off plans for a tax raid on pension savings after No 11 warned the move could be unfair to public sector workers.

Senior Treasury officials have reportedly told Rachel Reeves that reducing 40 per cent of tax relief on higher earners could hit those with lower incomes.

A government figure told The Times it would be “madness” to hit nurses and teachers with large tax rises, just months after giving them a pay rise.

Under the plans, a nurse earning £50,000 would be hit with an extra tax bill of up to £1,000 a year.

Another government source claimed Labour’s U-turn on implementing a cap on the lifetime allowance on pension savings would hit junior doctors.

“The government will take into account the impact on public sector workers,” they said.

But the warnings leave the chancellor with limited options to raise £16 billion in taxes to fill the “black hole” in public finances.

The chancellor will finally reveal her “major measures” to the Office for Budget Responsibility, the fiscal watchdog, this Wednesday.

Sir Keir Starmer has said that “we must unequivocally stand with the Jewish community” and reiterated his calls for a ceasefire as he marked the first anniversary of the October 7 attacks.

Monday is one year since the Hamas attacks in Israel, which triggered Israel’s subsequent conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon.

Sir Keir described October 7 2023 as “the darkest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust” and said that “collective grief has not diminished” in the year since.

“Over a thousand people were brutally murdered. Men, women, children and babies killed, mutilated, and tortured by the terrorists of Hamas. Jewish people murdered whilst protecting their families, young people massacred at a music festival, people abducted from their homes,” the Prime Minister said.

“Agonising reports of rape, torture and brutality beyond comprehension which continued to emerge days and weeks later.

“As a father, a husband, a son, a brother – meeting the families of those who lost their loved ones last week was unimaginable. Their grief and pain are ours, and it is shared in homes across the land.

“A year on, that collective grief has not diminished or waned.”

Sir Keir Starmer has been forced to accept the resignation of his chief of staff Sue Gray in the latest attempt by the prime minister to regain control of the political agenda and end the chaos in his government.

After less than three months in office since the election, the loss of Ms Gray – who he personally recruited to ensure he could drive through his policies through Whitehall once in power – is a major blow for Sir Keir.

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The former chief of staff will take a generous pay cut in her new role after quitting Sir Keir Starmer’s cabinet, The Telegraph reports.

On Sunday, Ms Gray announced she would leave Downing Street to become the prime minister’s new envoy for the regions and nations.

But just as she is set to transition to her new role, a leak revealed that she earned £170,000, which is more than the prime minister’s salary.

The whopping figure sparked fury among some frustrated Labour figures who have been on lower pay since entering government.