Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is reportedly considering appointing Sue Gray as his recent chief of staff. Ms Gray oversaw the report into lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street.
The senior civil servant, who has spent a long time at the center of Government, currently runs the Union and Structure Directorate on the Cabinet Office.
A Labour spokesperson said: “The method is ongoing. No one has been offered the job.”
Sir Keir recently dismissed former Chief of Staff Sam White.
He served within the role for a 12 months but was is assumed to have been unpopular with among the shadow cabinet.
Allies of the Labour leader told Sky News that – as a result of the relative inexperience of his team – it is important for the Labour leader to recruit a candidate who understands learn how to operate at the highest level of presidency.
A Labour source told Sky: “[Sue Gray] knows how Number 10 works and she or he’s very talked-about with civil servants.”
Ms Gray’s report saw her investigate 15 events on 12 dates between May 2020 and April 2021, all of which involved people gathering during Covid lockdowns.
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson attended eight of those events, a few of which appeared notably drunken and rowdy.
Her report from that emails and messages included regular planning of socialising during strict lockdowns, but additionally found some officials attempting to warn that the events were a nasty idea.
In a damning critique of the Johnson administration, Ms Gray found that there have been “failures of leadership and judgment in No 10 and the Cabinet Office”.
Ms Gray wrote: “The events that I investigated were attended by leaders in government.
“Lots of these events mustn’t have been allowed to occur.”
She also found that security and junior staff were often treated in an “unacceptable” way.
The civil servant said: “I used to be made aware of multiple examples of a scarcity of respect and poor treatment of security and cleansing staff.”
