Five weeks after Sue Gray resigned as the prime minister’s chief of staff, with the prospect of her being sacked hovering close, she is off again.And just like last time, even the manner of her departure is contested.We have been told the prime minister had decided to withdraw the offer for Ms Gray to be his envoy to the nations and regions.And, we understand, the cabinet secretary, the most senior civil servant in the country, had spoken to her to confirm this.This chain of events is not disputed by other figures in government.But Ms Gray is adamant it was her decision, we are told, and she never spoke directly to the prime minister about it.A friend of Ms Gray told the BBC: “Sue has taken a decision not to take the role. She’s going to focus on other things.” They added: “She’s taken time to think about it properly, talking to stakeholders, but ultimately she’s decided she doesn’t want to do it.”It appears the prime minister had grown tired of Ms Gray’s failure to actually start the paid, part-time job that she had been demoted into when she left Downing Street.Given 38 days had gone by since it was publicly known she had been offered the new role, it had been clear for some time that she didn’t want to do it.It seems reasonable to conclude, at the very least, that both sides were having second thoughts.It also seems reasonable to say that a second bout of messy and not entirely consistent briefing from each camp underlines the central truth in all of this – the hurt, the rows, the anger, the mistrust which has been there for all to see.Her apparent lack of enthusiasm was almost immediately e …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnFive weeks after Sue Gray resigned as the prime minister’s chief of staff, with the prospect of her being sacked hovering close, she is off again.And just like last time, even the manner of her departure is contested.We have been told the prime minister had decided to withdraw the offer for Ms Gray to be his envoy to the nations and regions.And, we understand, the cabinet secretary, the most senior civil servant in the country, had spoken to her to confirm this.This chain of events is not disputed by other figures in government.But Ms Gray is adamant it was her decision, we are told, and she never spoke directly to the prime minister about it.A friend of Ms Gray told the BBC: “Sue has taken a decision not to take the role. She’s going to focus on other things.” They added: “She’s taken time to think about it properly, talking to stakeholders, but ultimately she’s decided she doesn’t want to do it.”It appears the prime minister had grown tired of Ms Gray’s failure to actually start the paid, part-time job that she had been demoted into when she left Downing Street.Given 38 days had gone by since it was publicly known she had been offered the new role, it had been clear for some time that she didn’t want to do it.It seems reasonable to conclude, at the very least, that both sides were having second thoughts.It also seems reasonable to say that a second bout of messy and not entirely consistent briefing from each camp underlines the central truth in all of this – the hurt, the rows, the anger, the mistrust which has been there for all to see.Her apparent lack of enthusiasm was almost immediately e …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
