The Scotsman Bulletin Monday October 07 2024 #SueGray
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00:00Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's Daily Video Bulletin for this Monday.
00:05My name is Darl Miller, I'm Deputy Editor of the Scotsman and I'm joined by our Westminster
00:10correspondent, Alexander Brown.
00:12Alex, we have plenty to talk about coming out of the weekend and part of it is linked
00:17into the front page of today's paper.
00:21Starmer was talking about standing with the Jewish community.
00:25We've obviously had exactly a year today since the start of the Gaza conflict, the
00:32latest chapter in the Gaza conflict involving Israel.
00:36A lot of talk, a lot of pitches to come out over the past 24 hours around that.
00:43But Starmer also had an issue to deal with in terms of Sue Gray and her addition to the
00:49government over the past couple of months and it was announced on Sunday that she was
00:54effectively leaving the comms role she'd been appointed to and moved into a new role.
01:00Alex, this has felt like something that has been coming over the past couple of weeks.
01:07Can you just talk through the actual mechanics of the decision and why Sir Keith Starmer
01:12and his government had to reach this point?
01:14So Sue Gray was called into the Prime Minister's office on Thursday and essentially let go.
01:22I think the framing of it is that it was a resignation and that she's offered to move into a
01:27different role because her presence has become a distraction.
01:29But really, this is the Prime Minister wielding the axe.
01:33This is the government recognising that, I think, 94 days in, that his staffing is what
01:40people are talking about.
01:41It's become a problem for briefings.
01:43It would become toxic for Sue Gray.
01:45People were briefing against her and her pay constantly and about her conduct.
01:50So it's a win for many Labour MPs who were very unhappy with her.
01:54And it's a blow to the Prime Minister, really, who had kind of counted her as a key ally and
01:59defended her at all turns, both publicly and privately, and insisted that she would not be going
02:04anywhere.
02:05Whether her appointment was a good move, I mean, she's so experienced.
02:08She brought credibility.
02:10But also she brought questions.
02:11She came in and there were accusations of, well, she was looking into Boris Johnson.
02:16Is there bias in that?
02:18But actually, her report was a damn squib.
02:20Her report found no wrongdoing.
02:22So I think some of the criticism has been unfair.
02:25But there is no doubt that some of her decision making had been pretty suspect and she took
02:31a harsh line towards journalists using, I think she called them scumbags, which wasn't the
02:37best way to ingratiate herself with a lobby pack delighted to have their first scalp.
02:44Alex, you talk about decision making in terms of Sue Gray's decision making.
02:48What about Keir Starmer and this government?
02:50We've seen the Gray decision and you could have, I don't think you would have had to
02:55be Nostradamus to assume we may have got to a point where there was a lot of friction
02:59about her position in the opening couple of months of the government.
03:02But also you've had the winter fuel payment stuff.
03:06You've also had the gifts situation.
03:09Now, Starmer and the government would have known these claims had been made.
03:14Could they have foreseen that this would be raised as an issue over the first couple of
03:18months, given, you know, all what plagued effectively Boris Johnson and some of the
03:25final Tory governments as well?
03:28Should they have read the writing on the wall better here?
03:32Yes, but I also think those are separate issues.
03:34I think issues around freebies and accepting things was basic competence that ministers
03:41should have known better over, whereas the appointment of Sue Gray and even winter fuel.
03:47That's the winter fuel is a policy issue.
03:49Right. And that's something that has damaged the party and I think probably damaged the
03:53party more than any inner drama of the inner workings of Downing Street.
03:58I think people are far more interested in the policy than they are who is running Downing
04:02Street. So the party should have known.
04:05The party had an idea that she would be difficult because she was difficult immediately and
04:10they gave her lots of power.
04:12I think her pay being leaked was a huge thing to happen.
04:15The fact that she had personal oversight over ministerial appointments, I mean, the
04:19staffers ministerial appointments.
04:21So I know Labour staffers who've been there for a long time, have great relationships
04:26with now ministers and has presumed, I think perhaps understandably, that having been an
04:31adviser in opposition, they then be an adviser in government.
04:35And Sue Gray had a personal veto over that.
04:38So some people did not get jobs because Sue Gray said, actually, no, I don't think
04:42they're the right person, which is a huge amount of power to have to someone who would
04:46only just come through the door.
04:48And it rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.
04:50So I think the party should have known better, but they haven't really handled the optics
04:55of it well. Right.
04:56We should not be talking about the inner workings of Downing Street.
04:59We should be talking about policy.
05:01And I think they're acting quickly on this.
05:03I think it's interesting that the prime minister has acted on this of his own accord.
05:08The people I've been speaking to, this was his decision.
05:11And he came back from the party conference feeling pretty chastened, pretty upset and
05:17recognising that something had gone wrong.
05:19And he's now appointed Morgan McSweeney, who was the brains behind his leadership campaign.
05:23He was the head of political policy.
05:26And it's an appointment that will inspire many MPs.
05:29He is loved by staffers.
05:31His wife is Imogen Wharton, a posh Labour MP.
05:34And he's also close to the Labour Together group, the, you know, controversial spammer
05:38I think is controversial in the sense it seems to do quite well.
05:42So he's recognised it.
05:44He's made an appointment with the group popular.
05:46And we're hoping that can just put the whole issue behind it.
05:49So we're talking about a couple of days being, I guess, reactive decisions or reactive
05:54policies from Starmer.
05:56Pretend you're on the other side of the fence for the moment and you're putting on your
06:00SPAD hat.
06:01You know, you say you're representing Keir Starmer and this government.
06:05You've got a very difficult budget about three weeks away.
06:08But how do you actually get on the front foot?
06:10So you've got some momentum behind you and it looks like you're leading things rather
06:15than reacting to things.
06:17Not to ape Tony Blair's repetition, but it's policy, policy, policy.
06:22We should not be talking about who works in Downing Street.
06:25We should be talking about what a Labour government can do for you, what a Labour government can
06:29do for the public to deliver change.
06:31So for all this drama and all the pages and words that are going to come out of this,
06:37what happened to the budget is obviously the most important thing.
06:40And it's all about framing.
06:42We know that there are going to be sweeping cuts made in the budget just because those
06:46savings have to be made.
06:48And how that's framed will be crucial to whether the Labour Party can, you know, increase
06:52its popularity or be perceived as, you know, more austerity deliverance.
06:57I think it was interesting that I spoke to one MP about the winter fuel and they said,
07:02well, you know, it's 2.5 billion.
07:04We've got another 22.5 to go.
07:05So it sounds like, you know, oh, well, that's one issue that's behind us.
07:09But there's more cuts coming.
07:11So there really has to be hope that, you know, we can expect that infrastructure is probably
07:15going to have cuts.
07:16It will not be the improvements to infrastructure and transport and rail that maybe people had
07:21hoped for.
07:22But there has to be some nuggets of joy.
07:24There has to be some time frame or some promise that things will get better, because at the
07:29moment, Labour isn't really offering any hope and is looking pretty incompetent while doing
07:34so.
07:36You can read about Sue Gray's resignation at Scotsman.com.
07:42You'll get all the latest on the Scottish and UK politics front at our site.
07:47Just follow the politics tab in the navigation bar.
07:50Read the latest from Alex.
07:52And also, please follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram and buy a copy of the paper
07:58tomorrow.
07:59Thanks to you, Alex.
08:00And thanks, everyone, for joining us.