“You’re a chief of staff — just shut up and do your job,” a second Labour official said. “There have been a couple of things where I question whether she is naive or if she is just seeking the spotlight.”
The Labour official quoted at the top of the piece said her interview with Baldwin, in particular, had been a distraction from the party’s core messaging.
“If we win the election, why would we need a citizens’ assembly … when we have a mandate from the public?” they said.
The need for discipline
One Labour backbench MP added that Gray’s comments were “extremely unhelpful, when we are always being told to stay disciplined.”
Craig Oliver, No. 10 Downing Street communications director under David Cameron, told POLITICO that he found Gray to be “always professional, thoughtful and capable” when he worked alongside her during her years as a civil servant.
He added, however, that as an adviser “you never want to become the story — but there’s an inevitability about that happening to Sue Gray. With her stature and experience she’ll become front and center.”