Keir Starmer’s former chief of staff Sue Gray has told No 10 to be “careful” about civil service cuts and derogatory language about the work of Whitehall.
Making her maiden speech in the House of Lords, Gray made the case that civil servants were integral to realising the government’s objectives and would be listening to language that referred to them as “blobs” and “pen-pushers”, and to talk of cuts with “axes” and “chainsaws”.
