Civil service boss attempts to delay Sue Gray’s start as Labour chief of staff

Simon Case, centre, addresses a cabinet meeting at Downing Street in July last year. Photograph: Getty Images

The head of the civil service, Simon Case, has attempted to block former senior official Sue Gray from working with Labour as Keir Starmer’s chief of staff until after the next general election, the Guardian has been told.

Whitehall sources said that Case, as Gray’s former civil service boss in the Cabinet Office, had “pushed for” the government’s appointments watchdog to delay her starting the new job for the maximum two years.