Security chiefs: PM stored in darkish by aide Sue Gray
Sir Keir Starmer is being denied vital security briefings because his Chief of Staff Sue Gray is blocking access to him, senior Whitehall sources have claimed to The Mail on Sunday.
They have accused Ms Gray of ‘thinking she runs the country’, suggesting that even Cabinet Secretary Simon Case has been forced to ask her permission to speak to the Prime Minister.
The claims come amid growing disquiet in the Government over the power wielded by Ms Gray, who enjoyed a long civil service career before joining Sir Keir’s team.
A source said they had struggled to reach the Prime Minister when they needed to brief him on sensitive national security issues.
The source added: ‘It has got to the point where we have said that the PM needs to be given an intelligence briefing and Gray has said: “Tell me.” But we need to know that it has reached him.
Sir Keir Starmer is being blocked from accessing vital security briefings by his Chief of Staff Sue Gray, sources say
A source said they had struggled to reach the Prime Minister when they needed to brief him on national security issues
The Cabinet Secretary Simon Case has been forced to ask Ms Gray for permission to speak to the Prime Minister
The claims come amid growing disquiet in the Government over the power wielded by Ms Gray, who had a long civil service career before joining Sir Keir’s team
‘Simon Case has had the same problem. The Cabinet Secretary should not have to go through her to get to the PM. She thinks she runs the country.’
Last night, John Glen, the shadow paymaster general, said: ‘These reports are extremely concerning. The PM needs to get a grip on courtiers who the public didn’t vote for.
‘Our security personnel need to do their job properly and alert the PM to what he needs to hear when he needs to hear it.’
According to one source, Ms Gray was also involved in an extraordinary stand-off with Mr Case when she tried to prevent the Prime Minister’s powerful adviser Morgan McSweeney from being granted access to a secure Government IT system.
Mr Case, who is Head of the Civil Service, is said to have objected: ‘I will only authorise that if the Prime Minister tells me himself.’
Ms Gray, 66, has been locked in a power struggle with Mr McSweeney, No 10’s head of political strategy – who is widely referred to as ‘the real Deputy Prime Minister’ – since their days preparing Sir Keir for power.
It has been described as the ‘battle between Gray’s girls’ gang and McSweeney’s boys’ brigade’, with Ms Gray using her experience in the Civil Service to try to outmanoeuvre her rival.
It has even been claimed that Mr McSweeney twice found his No 10 desk moved by Ms Gray – each time further away from the Prime Minister’s office.
Ms Gray was involved in an extraordinary stand-off with Cabinet Secretary Simon Case (pictured) when she tried to prevent the Prime Minister’s powerful adviser Morgan McSweeney from being granted access to a secure Government IT system
Mr Case is said to have objected and said he would only prevent Mr McSweeney access if directed to do so by the Prime Minister
Ms Gray presided over the ‘Partygate’ inquiry into lockdown parties held in Boris Johnson’s Downing Street. Her report suggested a failure of leadership inside No 10 and was cited by Boris’s allies as playing a decisive part in his resignation. She quit the civil service in March last year to join Sir Keir’s team.
She has been accused of ‘subverting’ ministers in efforts to pour £310 million into rebuilding Casement Park, a derelict stadium in Belfast where two British soldiers were murdered by nationalists in 1988, so that it can host matches in the Euro 2028 football championship.
It was said that she had ‘personally dominated’ negotiations in a ‘constitutionally improper’ way.
As the Daily Mail reported yesterday, Ms Gray’s career has been cloaked in mystery since she gave up a Whitehall job 40 years ago and moved to Ulster to become landlady of the Cove Bar, close to the border with the Irish Republic in an IRA-infested part of rural County Down known as ‘bandit country’.
Sinn Fein’s economy minister Conor Murphy, who was convicted of IRA membership and possession of explosives, said of Ms Gray, who is the daughter of expat Irish parents: ‘With Sue Gray, who was previously from here and is now part of [the] Leader’s office… At least we have a friend in court, so we can certainly have access… directly to Downing Street.’
Ms Gray, 66, has also been locked in a power struggle with Mr McSweeney, No 10’s head of political strategy
A source said there was particular concern within Government about Ms Gray’s influence over the Prime Minister given the scale of national security threats.
The source said: ‘We know, for instance, that the Chinese are trying especially hard at the moment to hack our vital infrastructure, such as hospitals. We can see them there in the systems, almost goading us. It is a very worrying time.’
Ms Gray is also accused of ‘empire-building’ within No 10, with a source saying: ‘She is even trying to build her own effective Private Office.
‘That’s just not done – she is meant to be the Private Office, not to have one. Bag carriers should not have their own bag carriers.’
However, allies of Ms Gray said that any ‘gatekeeping’ would likely have been an attempt to help the PM cope with his workload.
A Downing Street source said: ‘For the first time in years, we have got weekly National Security Council meetings with the PM in the chair, and regular sessions with him on security matters outside of this. This is just noises off from people who don’t know what they’re talking about.’
