How Not to Run a Government: Tales from 10 Downing Street

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Sue Gray, former Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister

After weeks of speculation, yesterday Sue Gray finally resigned as Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Keir Starmer. It's been a far more turbulent 100 days for new PM Starmer than he must have envisaged, especially having assumed power after a period of chaos and fragmentation. What has happened?

How a Centre of Government is structured is critical to turning policy into practice and clearly in the case of the UK, it isn't working so what is going at the UK’s 10 Downing Street?

Beset by leaks, it was clear that Gray had become the story and would have to depart.

As I remarked to a friend weeks ago, the government seems to have remained in ‘campaign mode’ post the election and doesn’t seem to have shifted itself to an organisation focused on delivery.

Gray’s departure signals Starmer’s recognition that he needs a “wartime consigliere”. Although it remains to be seen whether her replacement will offer what the PM needs.

How this has played out offers key lessons for building senior teams capable of driving transformative change. Gray’s departure, amidst internal friction and media scrutiny, emphasises the complexity of operating at the highest levels in #publicservices.

However, beyond the immediate headlines, how this has played out also provides insight into what it takes to form a focused, disciplined, resilient leadership team.

1. The Importance of Clear Roles, Alignment and Accountability

I was talking to one former Blair era Minister a couple of weeks ago and their contention was that in 1997, accountability was clear. Everyone knew who to call - or indeed, who was going to call them! They remarked that this didn't seem to be the case in the current No. 10 set-up.

Gray’s resignation was partly due to tensions over her influence and control over information flow within No. 10. Allegedly, part of Gray's role was also to support the national security apparatus and in particular, to act as a liaison to Parliament's influential Intelligence and Security Committee (The ISC). Some of the tension was apparently due to Gray wanting to determine who would brief the PM on matters of state security and intelligence.

Gray was rumoured to have been working on behalf of the British intelligence services when she and her husband left England to run a pub in Northern Ireland in the early 80s. It certainly seemed like an odd move for someone who had been doing well extremely well in their Civil Service career. Her presumed role in supporting the PM with respect to the ISC might perhaps be suggestive that the rumours are true.

In any event, it seems that this was one of the many matters that created tensions with the 10 DS operation. Objectively this does perhaps seem like odd behaviour and whilst the role of a Chief of Staff is obviously to act as a gate keeper for their principle, part of the role is understanding what information their principle needs to hear directly and what they don't. Having done the job, this isn't always easy but my sense is it's generally better to adopt the perspective that less is more - albeit there are limits.

In addition, for any senior team driving transformation, it’s essential that roles are clearly defined and there is strong alignment on decision-making processes. Lack of clarity can lead to internal conflict and hinder progress, especially where you have ‘big personalities’.

2. Balancing Expertise with Political Agility

Gray’s background as a seasoned civil servant brought much-needed expertise to the role but media focus on internal disputes was a massive distraction. Gray's political instincts don't look as if they were as finely honed as others in the administration. This isn't unreasonable given her former role was a Senior Civil Servant albeit one might anticipate that most Senior Civil Servants (SCS) would understand the political ramifications of their actions.

The tensions from within 10 DS are not the first time Gray had been the source of controversy. The original announcement she was to become Chief of Staff to Keir Starmer in his role as Leader of the Opposition, attracted opprobrium from different circles, including within the Civil Service itself. As one member of the SCS told me, it was something that was "difficult to defend", especially coming after it did in the aftermath of the Cabinet Office 'Partygate' Investigation - which Gray had led.

While the organisational approach is perhaps not wrong, it's key to get the right people into the right roles. The position of Downing Street Chief of Staff, modelled on the White House Chief of Staff; is a relatively new one. The first 10 DS Chief of Staff was Jonathan Powell who Blair picked as a political outsider but as someone who as a diplomat; had phenomenal experience with collaboration and consensus building. As journalist Ian Katz puts it: "Powell had been at the epicentre of power. As Tony Blair's chief of staff, he was the ultimate fixer, the prime minister's first line of defence against events, baby-catcher in chief. When things went wrong, people called Powell.". Powell is known for his highly collaborative style. Gray was not - perhaps unfairly. Whether you like it or not, the role of the Chief of Staff is to build alliances and consensus.

It's clear to me that successful senior teams need a multidisciplinary expertise and political agility to navigate external pressures while staying focused on long-term goals. They also need to get along and if there’s a person who can’t or won’t be a team player, then it is unfortunately the job of a leader to move them on.

3. Collaborative Leadership

Leaders must work together, not only with a shared vision but also with mutual respect for each other’s roles, contributions and experience. Strong collaboration enhances a team’s ability to drive through complex, transformative agendas. As noted above, part of the role of a Chief of Staff is to build collaboration and consensus. This also means knowing when and how to delegate.

Gray had clearly developed a reputation as a micromanager and this was causing huge conflict within the 10 DS and wider Civil Service system, possibly compounded by a lack of political experience. This may have been exacerbated by personality clashes within the top team. As one senior political operator remarked to me, the disagreement with new Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney had all the hallmarks of a traditional 'family feud'.

Gray's approach to planning government - allegedly by closeting herself with close friend Lord Waheed Ali, alienated people. Arguably Starmer made the same mistake that Cameron did with NHS reform in allowing Andrew Lansley to plan everything in isolation. In allowing Gray to closet herself alone and without a wider process of engagement; it set the stage for disagreement. Allegedly Shadow Ministers and their teams were not included in "Access Talks" (the informal process where Civil Servants engage with an opposition party ahead of a General Election in order to support a smooth transition). Lord Ali; whilst a celebrated business man has no formal experience in government and his access to 10 DS has exacerbated the scandal Starmer has been subjected to.

As Gray herself stated, when she didn't get Northern Ireland's top Civil Service job: "Why didn't I get the job? I'm not sure I'll ever quite know but I suspect, you know, I suspect people may have thought that I perhaps was too much of a challenger, or a disrupter. I am both. Perhaps I would bring about... too much change. And yes, I wanted to have change.". Disruption can be a good thing but as the most experienced disruptors know, if you don't co-opt your key stakeholders to your agenda; it is doomed to failure.

And as subsequent events have revealed; it appears Starmer may have become too dependent on Gray and Ali. The final straw had to be the overshadowing of what should have been a triumphant party conference for Starmer - the first time for nearly 15 years a Labour conference was being held with the party in government.

Where Next?

The controversy may subside for now. The new team need to get their feet under the table. My fear is that as one Whitehall insider said to me there remain some "significant structural weaknesses". Certainly the new team still seems light on delivery expertise and I would continue to be concerned that the mechanism for 'getting stuff done' is absent. In 1997, Blair brought in Michael Barber, Patrick Diamond and others to ensure he had a team who could 'make it happen'. After all, turning policy into practice is no simple feat.

However, it's hard to get away from the nagging feeling that the new team are; as we saw in London's City Hall, going to be focused on the politics and the political messaging rather than turning ambition into action.