No 10 disarray as power struggle erupts between Sue Gray and Starmer’s top adviser

Prime Minister’s chief of staff accused of ‘thinking she runs the country’ as reports of infighting surface

Downing Street is in disarray after a power struggle broke out between Sue Gray and Sir Keir Starmer’s top adviser.
Ms Gray, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, and Morgan McSweeney, his most senior aide, are understood to be at loggerheads over access to him.
The former civil servant, who investigated partygate, was accused of preventing Sir Keir from receiving security updates by blocking access to him.
A Whitehall source accused her of “thinking she runs the country” amid disquiet over her powerful role within the Government.
The claims, reported by The Mail on Sunday, fuelled further fears of an irreparable split between two of Sir Keir’s most senior officials.
Downing Street dismissed the accusations against Ms Gray as “noises off from people who don’t know what they’re talking about”.  It is understood that Mr McSweeney disputes all the claims made about him. 
However, the briefings suggest a lack of harmony in Downing Street.
Ms Gray, the most senior political official in Number 10, is said to have tried to block Mr McSweeney from having access to a secure government IT system.
Her demand reportedly prompted a row with Simon Case, the Cabinet secretary, who told her: “I will only authorise that if the Prime Minister tells me himself.”
A security source also told The Mail on Sunday that Ms Gray had tried to block them from directly briefing Sir Keir on an important national security matter.
The source said: “It has got to the point where we have said that the PM needs to be given an intelligence briefing and Gray has said ‘tell me’. But we need to know that it has reached him.”
A Downing Street source said Sir Keir had introduced weekly National Security Council meetings, which he chairs, at which major security matters are discussed. He also has “regular sessions on security matters outside of this” when necessary, they said.
Ms Gray is reported to have twice moved Mr McSweeney’s desk within Number 10, making it further away from the Prime Minister’s office each time.
The reports will fuel speculation of a power struggle between the pair, which could force Sir Keir to decide whether to dispense with one of them. 
He is known to have a low tolerance for the sort of factional infighting that has beset previous administrations, including Boris Johnson’s.
Mr McSweeney is Number 10’s head of political strategy, and has been Sir Keir’s senior adviser since he became Labour leader in April 2020.
Ms Gray was poached by Sir Keir in March last year to become his chief of staff and make his operation ready for government.
There has been disquiet within Labour’s ranks over her powerful role, which included her reportedly exerting heavy influence over the appointment of ministers.
Jess Phillips, the safeguarding minister at the Home Office, has revealed that it was Ms Gray who rang her up to offer her the job.