To her admirers, Sue Gray is just what Sir Keir Starmer needed – a real-life Labour version of C.J. Cregg, the fictional White House chief of staff in TV drama The West Wing.

Comparisons between ‘SG’ and C.J. have been drawn by Labour insiders, and not always to Ms Gray’s advantage: some have highlighted the amount of schmoozing she has done with the corporate world since she controversially left her senior Civil Service position, calling it as ‘all a bit too West Wing’ and ‘not the job of a chief’.

Just as C.J. – played by actress Allison Janney – fought turf wars within a male-dominated White House, Just as C.J. – played by actress Allison Janney – fought turf wars within a male-dominated White House, Ms Gray is embroiled in her own battle of the sexes in the party, with fissures increasingly opening up between Ms Gray and a group of influential advisers known as ‘The Boys’.

Ms Gray is embroiled in a battle of the sexes in the party, with fissures increasingly opening up between her and a group of influential advisers known as 'The Boys'

Ms Gray is embroiled in a battle of the sexes in the party, with fissures increasingly opening up between her and a group of influential advisers known as ‘The Boys’

... Just as C.J., played by actress Allison Janney, fought turf wars within a male-dominated White House

Played by actress Allison Janney, C.J. fought turf wars within a male-dominated White House

Dominating that group are election campaign chiefs Morgan McSweeney and Pat McFadden, as well as Matthew Doyle, a seasoned spin doctor who acquired his skillset under Tony Blair in No 10.

Mr Doyle, in particular, is said to worry that Ms Gray is plotting to carve him out of a future No 10 operation – a plan dubbed ‘Just Stop Doyle’ by smirking insiders. According to party sources, Doyle and the rest of ‘The Boys’ are not being paranoid – she is out to get them.

One said: ‘Sue has made it clear she intends to help leading women MPs and party figures make their voices heard, and to stop them being drowned out by pre-power machismo. She’s been conspicuously greeting female shadow ministers with a hug instead of a handshake to signal her female solidarity.’ Under one ‘Just Stop Doyle’ scenario, he would be persuaded to ‘come out of the shadows’ and try for a Labour seat at the next Election rather than land a job in No 10. But such is Ms Gray’s growing influence – she’s already introduced a Downing Street-style meeting at 8.30am – that some Labour MPs suggest that she herself will move into a front line political job in a Starmer administration, via a quick promotion to the House of Lords or a by-election in a solid Labour seat.

See also  Loose Women star announces she has 'no plans' to return to the iconic talk show after 10 years on the panel: 'There are no discussions taking place'

One MP said: ‘Sue is not just streamlining the party’s preparations for power – she throws herself into policy, too. Would she be happy just to be Keir’s chief of staff in No 10 or would she want a front line ministerial job? People are beginning to wonder.’

Others counter that Ms Gray would far prefer to wield power from the inside, in the manner of Jonathan Powell, who served a decade as Tony Blair’s chief of staff in Downing Street without seeking ministerial office. One source said: ‘As Keir’s chief of staff in No 10, Sue would wield as much power as any Cabinet minister would. She would be in her natural element. I don’t think she’d be interested in a ministerial job.’

And on the subject of jobs in government, one MP claimed that the 65-year-old had ‘already been going around talking to people about jobs in No 10’. ‘Inevitably, some noses are put out of joint,’ the MP said.

‘She has to do that sort of preparation but not in that way. It’s causing a lot of uncertainty.’

No wonder some long-serving party staff and MPs are worried that they could be replaced by ‘Sue’s friends’. Her influence has been felt during internal rows over the use of the Union Flag on campaign leaflets, which she has argued alienates those who associate it with the far Right.

The tensions have not been helped by Ms Gray adopting an ‘overbearing’ and ‘heavy-handed’ approach to leak inquiries: Sir Keir’s embarrassing U-turn over Labour’s £28billion green investment plan – a muddle which some MPs place at Ms Gray’s door – was followed by a rancorous inquest into how news of the volte-face reached the media.

Many Starmer allies in the Commons object to the idea of shaking up his ‘boys’. One MP said: ‘Looking at the polls and where we are, it’s not as though they’ve been getting everything wrong.’

See also  Pictured: Deadly bull shark who attacked British holidaymaker just 10 yards from Tobago shore as 64-year-old fights for life with doctors battling to re-attach his fingers and save his mauled leg

READ MORE: How the Tories under Rishi are heading for their worst election result in history, GLEN OWEN reveals with forensically detailed new polling

One of the chief of staff’s key roles is to act as a bridge between the wider Shadow Cabinet and Starmer’s inner circle, which includes the increasingly embattled Angela Rayner. And for that, she gets a mixed report. Some frontbenchers voice frustration over a ‘lack of communication from the centre’ – especially from Starmer’s office and from Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves.

One shadow minister said: ‘There are times when we try to contact them about announcements we’re planning and we can’t get any feedback. They don’t return our calls.’

The problem has been compounded by a relocation from Starmer’s Commons office to Labour’s south London HQ, which has become the campaign nerve centre. One source said: ‘The centre of power has shifted from the Commons to the party HQ. The focus is now almost exclusively on Election planning and that’s led to some of the shadow ministers being sidelined.’

Tensions have been compounded by the return to the fold of not just ‘boys, but the big boys’ – the likes of Peter Mandelson, Alastair Campbell and Tony Blair himself – as the scent of power lures these one-time big beasts from their lucrative post-political pastures towards jostling for places at the ‘court of King Keir’.

Admirers of Ms Gray dismiss talk of frontbenchers being sidelined and insist she is skilled at involving not just shadow ministers but Labour select committee chairmen and rank-and-file MPs in key discussions. ‘Because of that, Sue is really popular with the parliamentary party and relations with the Shadow Cabinet generally are much better,’ said one.

But involving everyone in that way ‘has come at a price’, they added. ‘Decision-making has really slowed down. We can just about afford that in opposition – we won’t be able to in power.’

See also  Public satisfaction with the NHS falls to lowest level EVER amid ailing health service's 'eternal winter' and never-ending GP crisis
Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sign Up for Our Newsletters

Get notified of the best deals on our WordPress themes.

You May Also Like

Teenage boy on e-scooter dies in crash after colliding with BMW

Teenage boy on e-scooter dies in crash after colliding with BMW Police…

Sydney’s Waverly College threatens to cut the hair of students with mullets

Private school fed-up with mullets threatens to cut student’s hair on the…

Police investigate two possible sightings of missing dog walker Ausra Plungiene

Police investigate two possible sightings of missing dog walker Ausra Plungiene, 56,…

Qantas launch a huge Mother’s Day sale

Qantas launches huge Mother’s Day sale and slashes the price of more…