Former Number 10 Chief of Staff Sue Gray (Image: PA)

       Sir Keir Starmer’s former chief of staff Sue Gray used her first speech in the House of Lords to condemn Number 10’s plans to slash the size of the civil service. Baroness Gray hit out after the Government vowed to cut the cost of Whitehall by 15%, saving ￡2.2 billion, with civil servants encouraged to resign through “voluntary exit schemes” while top civil servants will be denied pay rises and eventually fired if their performance is considered poor.

       Number 10 has denied reports that the policy is known as “operation chainshaw” but Sir Keir has criticised “an overcautious flabby state” and complained: “The Civil Service has grown by 130,000 since the referendum, and yet frontline services have not improved.” Lady Gray was Sir Keir’s chief of staff in opposition, from September 2023, and then in Government until October last year. But speaking in the House of Lords, she said: “I would caution all of us to be careful, not only about our decisions but our language also. When we hear phrases with ‘blobs’, ‘pen-pushers’, ‘axes’, ‘chainsaws’ and other implements, they hear it too.

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       “Difficult decisions are needed, of course, and the Civil Service will be keen to be part of any reform journey, but we need them and other public servants to succeed. I will continue to support a progressive Civil Service. I hope others will do the same.”

       Recalling her own previous career as a senior civil servant, she said: “I worked with truly heroic and committed people, striving every day, in very difficult circumstances, to help people in even more challenging situations.

       “They were the Civil Service at its best: on the front line, as far away from Whitehall’s machinations as it is possible to be. Today, I see the same sort of brilliance.”

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       Lady Gray was forced out of her Number 10 role last year following reports of clashes with other senior Government officials including Morgan McSweeney, the former head of political strategy in Sir Keir’s team, who has now replaced her as chief of staff. She was then given a seat in the House of Lords.

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       Sir Keir has attempted to avoid a row with the civil service, saying: “The problem isn’t our fantastic civil servants – it’s the system they’re stuck in.” But he has also made it clear he believes the civil service is failing to perform.

       The Prime Minister said earlier this month: “The Civil Service has grown by 130,000 since the referendum, and yet frontline services have not improved. It’s overstretched, unfocussed and unable to deliver the security people need today.”

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