Sue Gray Advisers to the PM are often targets of sniping but is it sustainable?

For someone who was not even in Liverpool for the Labour party conference, Sue Gray was the subject of a remarkable amount of conversation.

- Peter Walker

So what does the future hold for Keir Starmer's chief of staff, and how much is she merely a victim of circumstance? The basic facts, as far as they are agreed, are well-aired: Gray is either a much-needed injection of civil service professionalism or a control freak and bottleneck to decisions. Either way, she has been the focus of much briefing to the media, often negative.

Being a target of internal and external sniping is not unusual for the consiglieres of new prime ministers - especially when so many people in government are jostling for attention.

Dominic Cummings was a lightning rod for whispering and leaks when he worked for Boris Johnson; Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill were a constant source of Whitehall gossip and media scrutiny when they worked for Theresa May.

Though different characters in almost every way, they share the same basic problem. Advisers being in the news is not sustainable in the long-term, hence the mutterings that Starmer must get a grip of a situation which has contributed to Labour's shaky start. Otherwise,

like some of her predecessors, Gray may have to go.