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Sue Gray has reportedly turned down Sir Keir Starmer’s offer to become the prime minister’s envoy for the nations and regions, after months of speculation over when she would take up the role.
It comes amid claims the prime minister was poised to withdraw the job offer.
No 10 repeatedly said she was on a short break before taking up her new post, but it has since been reported that she has declined to take the role she was offered.
The PM’s former chief of staff was due to take up a job as “envoy to the nations and regions”, after she stepped down from her position at the heart of government in October.
This followed intense media speculation about turmoil at the heart of Downing Street.
“Sue has taken a decision not to take the role. She’s going to focus on other things,” an ally of Ms Gray told the Financial Times.
They added: “She’s taken time to think about it properly, talking to stakeholders, but ultimately she’s decided she doesn’t want to do it.”
No 10 had previously described her new role as a “vital role in strengthening our relations with the regions and nations”.
In the job, she would have acted as a go-between for ministers with devolved governments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and regional mayors across England.
Her resignation as chief of staff followed weeks of infighting almost from the moment Labour won a historic election result, coupled with questions over gifts for the prime minister, Ms Gray and senior cabinet ministers, and fears the government had lost control of its own agenda.
The prime minister was forced to reset his top team, after failing to reset the agenda three times with announcements about restricting gifts in the future and paying back some of them.
At the time, Ms Gray agreed to take up the new role in government following an admission she had become a “distraction”, not least over revelations of her £170,000 salary – more than the prime minister.
In a statement, Sir Keir thanked Ms Gray for her work to “prepare us for government and get us started on our programme of change”.
Downing Street has been contacted for comment.
More to follow…
