Downing Street has denied there was a “nest of vipers” behind the scenes in Sir Keir Starmer’s administration following reports of tensions involving senior officials.
A No 10 spokeswoman defended Cabinet Secretary Simon Case following reports he was under pressure to quit early because of anger over leaks and hostile briefings about the Downing Street operation.
The country’s top civil servant Mr Case “remains focused on delivering for the Prime Minister” and was working closely with both Sir Keir and the Cabinet.
The Guardian reported that Mr Case had been privately accused of failing to clamp down on leaks about the donations of clothing to Sir Keir and his wife from Lord Alli and of reported rows between the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Sue Gray and other officials.
Mr Case, who has suffered from poor health, is widely expected to leave his role as the country’s top civil servant around the end of 2024 or early 2025 after a turbulent time as Cabinet Secretary.
The Cabinet Office has denied he was the source of any leaks or negative briefing.
Asked if Sir Keir was satisfied Mr Case was not behind any leaks, the No 10 spokeswoman said: “Yes.”
Put to her that Downing Street sounded like a “nest of vipers”, the spokeswoman said: “I don’t recognise that.
“More generally, I wouldn’t usually get into those kinds of reports around staffing.
“The Cabinet Secretary remains focused on delivering for the Prime Minister and the work of Government and working closely with the Prime Minister and Cabinet.”
There have been a number of stories alleging difficult relations between Sir Keir’s closest aides Ms Gray and director of political strategy, Morgan McSweeney, and suggestions of difficulties between the chief of staff and special advisers.
Over the weekend Sir Keir sought to play down the rumours about Ms Gray, the former Whitehall ethics chief who conducted the partygate investigation before being drafted in to his team before the election.
“I’m not going to talk behind her back and I’m not going to talk about individual members of staff, whether it’s Sue Gray or any other member of staff,” he said.
“All I can say about the stories is most of them are wildly wrong.”
Mr Case became Cabinet Secretary while Boris Johnson was in power and his tenure included the partygate scandal as well as the premierships of Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.
He stepped back from his role in October 2023 on health grounds but returned to work in January 2024.
