KEIR Starmer has been utterly embarrassed after trying to give Sue Gray a “fake job” as nations envoy, the SNP have said.
The party’s chief whip at Westminster, Kirsty Blackman, spoke out after confirmation that Gray would not be taking up the role Downing Street had previously described as “vital”.
Initial media reports said that Number 10 had decided to withdraw the offer of the role, before later quotes from allies of Gray in the Financial Times said she had in fact rejected it.
Asked whether the job offer was withdrawn or if Gray walked away, a Number 10 spokesperson confirmed it had been her decision.
They said: “As we said at the time, the appointment had been agreed and you had the focus for the new role and the original statements from both the Prime Minister and Sue Gray.
“Subsequent to that, we confirmed that she was taking a break between roles and taking up duties and, as I said, I can update that she has since decided not to take up the role.”
Downing Street said there were now “no plans” to fill the nations envoy role. Asked why given it was previously described as “vital” to government, No 10 said Gray had been “uniquely placed” to hold the position and repeated that the role would be kept “under review”.
Gray’s resignation as chief of staff came amid bitter infighting in Labour’s new No 10, and she was swiftly replaced by close Starmer adviser Morgan McSweeney.
Although Gray’s “nations and regions envoy” role was also swiftly announced, she missed a key summit days later, there was no information provided on the job description, and no information as to when she would begin.
SNP chief whip Blackman said: "This is an utterly embarrassing saga for Sir Keir Starmer, but throughout this sorry affair one thing is clear – Sue Gray has been made to pay the price for his mistakes.
"While this quite frankly humiliating story plays out, 900,000 Scottish pensioners face a bleak winter thanks to Sir Keir Starmer's government.
“It's not Sue Gray that caused Labour Government poll ratings to plummet, it’s a Labour Prime Minister hell-bent on robbing pensioners of support this winter.”
On Tuesday, new polling from More in Common found that Labour were two points behind the Tories, despite winning a landslide General Election victory just months earlier.
Scottish Green co-leader Patrick Harvie said the Labour Government "clearly doesn’t know what devolved parliaments need or want, which is why he has proposed this non-entity role that was rejected by the office holder before she even began".
“For years, Scotland has been forced to watch on as our budgets have been slashed, our powers have been snatched, and Westminster’s overreach has got out of control.
“Desperately trying to appoint a new envoy to relieve his internal issues is just papering over the deep cracks. We need real systematic change to respect Scotland’s democracy," he said.
Gray first became a public figure when as a top civil servant she spearheaded the report into the partygate scandal.
In March 2023, she resigned from the civil service to take up the chief of staff role for Starmer, and was subject to a six-month wait before she was able to begin working.
