PM’s principal private secretary, Nin Pandit, to leave after less than 10 months in top civil service role

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Keir Starmer has begun a shake-up of No 10, including replacing an aide whose appointment had been a key battleground amid the departure of Sue Gray last autumn.

Nin Pandit, the prime minister’s top civil service aide, is to leave her role after less than 10 months. Sources at No 10 denied she had quit and said she would step into a new policy delivery role and the prime minister would now take more direct control of delivery.

The Guardian understands that Pandit, once praised by Dominic Cummings as one of “the brilliant women around the table” who would have done the job of prime minister “10 times better” than Boris Johnson, will be replaced by Dan York-Smith as Starmer’s principal private secretary.