Sue Gray will not attend summit in new regions role

Ex-No 10 chief of staff Sue Gray will not attend a regional investment summit on Friday, after recently becoming the PM's regional envoy.

The civil servant was appointed to the newly-created role at the weekend, after leaving her former job amid internal battles over her influence.

Ms Gray "has not enjoyed being a figure in the public eye", revealed Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden, who is one of the PM's closest allies, and is taking a short break before taking up her new position.

Downing Street is yet to publish details of her responsibilities as Sir Keir Starmer's envoy for the UK's nations and regions.

The prime minister is due to chair the first-ever meeting of a new Council of the Nations and Regions in Scotland on Friday.

The summit in Edinburgh will see leaders of the devolved governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and regional English mayors focusing on how to boost regional investment, ahead of a big UK-hosted international investment summit next week.

Asked by LBC why Ms Gray would not be attending the summit, McFadden said: "I know that she has not enjoyed being a figure in the public eye unlike me, who can come on your programme and speak for myself and answer any of your questions.

"As an official, she can't do that. Given what she has been through in the last few weeks, she has decided to take a bit of downtime, take a bit of a break, and I quite understand why."

Asked how long Ms Gray's break would be, McFadden said: "I don't think it will be long, but let's give her a bit of space and privacy after somebody who, as I said, can't speak up for themselves, finding themselves on the front pages of the newspapers in a way that she has not wanted to be."

A Number 10 spokeswoman insisted the Friday gathering of the Council of Nations and Regions was "by no means the extent of our engagement" and Ms Gray would play a "huge role" going forward.

Whitehall veteran Ms Gray, who became a household name after leading the government's internal inquiry into the Partygate scandal, left as Sir Keir's chief of staff on Sunday after just three months in the post.

She had been the subject of negative stories alleging clashes with other senior officials, and caught up in a row over the pay of No 10 advisers.

Ms Gray has been replaced by longtime Starmer ally Morgan McSweeney, who has been credited with masterminding Labour's election victory in July.