Keir Starmer hopes Sue Gray will be chief of staff by autumn

Labour wants Sue Gray in place as chief of staff to begin access talks with the civil service after the summer.

Sir Keir Starmer’s team want to begin preparatory talks with officials at least nine months before the election next year and are increasingly hopeful of having the former civil servant ready to lead them.

Starmer has said he is confident Gray broke no rules and the party has dismissed a government investigation into the circumstances of her departure from the civil service as a “vendetta”.

Sir Keir Starmer is said to want Gray to work on the transition to government

JESSICA TAYLOR/UK PARLIAMENT/REUTERS