How Sue Gray blew up Downing Street inside 100 days – POLITICO

However these first 100 days didn’t go to plan. It’s not clear whether or not the plan modified after Alli drafted it, however he swiftly discovered himself on the coronary heart of the furor surrounding his personal donations of garments and lodging to Starmer.

Entry denied

Within the weeks main as much as the election, Alli additionally accompanied Grey in what had been generally known as “entry talks” in Whitehall. These conferences between the opposition and senior civil servants are supposed to permit shadow ministers to offer everlasting authorities officers discover of their priorities. Ideally, the extra detailed the talks are, the extra they assist a brand new authorities hit the bottom working.

In earlier years, entry talks have begun as a lot as 18 months earlier than polling day. Rishi Sunak — as is typical — gave permission to permit Labour to start the discussions with the civil service in January 2024.

However Labour was reluctant to get entangled. Officers in some departments had been shocked to not be in higher demand. The talks had been usually minimal and happened in excessive secrecy. Shadow ministers weren’t even allowed to debate the matter with one another.

When the election was known as, Starmer’s workforce was “caught out by the timing” and scrambled to accentuate the talks with civil servants, one individual accustomed to the matter recalled. “We did speed up the tempo,” one of many ministers now within the Cupboard stated. “We needed to quickly transfer via issues.”

In accordance with the e-book, Grey was among the many senior occasion officers most reluctant to see ministers interact in complete entry talks. The hold-up was irritating for entrance benchers. One other senior minister confessed that their entry talks consisted of only one 30-minute dialog with a senior civil servant.