By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Sue Gray, Chief of Staff to the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer on Sunday announced her exit from the cabinet over alleged infighting among the PM’s team in a government little above three months since it came to power.
“In recent weeks it has become clear to me that intense commentary around my position risked becoming a distraction to the government’s vital work of change,” Gray said in a statement.
A former senior civil servant, Gray was at the centre of leaks to the media about her pay last month and she was blamed by some officials in the government.
The Prime Minister had repaid thousands of pounds worth of the gifts, his office said last week.
The amount involved has however been trailed by controversy, especially at time when the government is mopping up funds to pay energy bills for millions of pensioners.
Gray will take up a new post as Starmer’s envoy for the regions and nations, the Prime Minister’s office said.
She will be replaced by Morgan McSweeney who previously was chief adviser to the Prime Minister, the office said.
The opposition Conservatives has mocked Starmer’s government, saying it had been “thrown into chaos”, criticizing the free gifts and Gray’s resignation.
A spokesperson of the opposition said, “Sue Gray was brought into deliver a programme for government and all we’ve seen in that time is a government of self-service.”
Heritage Times HT recalls that Starmer led the Labour Party to a sweeping victory in July, promising discipline and change after 14 years of Conservative Party rule.
With less than four months in office, he has come under sever criticism of free gifts from wealthy donors that he and other Labour politicians received.
