Baroness Sue Gray has given further detail on the "unbearable" atmosphere she experienced as Sir Keir Starmer's chief of staff, revealing in her first broadcast interview since resigning that colleagues briefed against her from the outset of Labour's time in government, and that she felt unable to speak freely for fear conversations would be leaked. Speaking to Ed Balls on the Political Currency podcast, she said the hostile briefing began while Labour was still in opposition and continued once in power, leaving her feeling as though "everything you say" was being recorded and passed to journalists. The comments add weight to previous criticism of a toxic culture inside Number 10, including from deputy leader Lucy Powell, who has spoken of a "boys' club" atmosphere and "anonymous nasty briefings" targeting women.

Gray, who quit as chief of staff in October 2024 after weeks of negative press coverage, said she raised her concerns with Sir Keir directly on a couple of occasions but was "disappointed" that he did not do more to address the leaks, adding that none of the briefing had come from her. She cited one specific example – false claims she had tried to sideline adviser Morgan McSweeney – as an instance of ordinary decisions being misrepresented in the press. She described arriving early and leaving late to avoid colleagues during what she called a "very, very, very difficult period", though she also pointed to a lack of clear vision from the leadership in Labour's early months in office. Gray, who rose to prominence leading the Partygate inquiry into Boris Johnson's Downing Street, was made a Labour peer last December.