Esther McVey

AS THERE ever been a more egregious example of failing upwards than that of Sue Gray - former Chief of Staff to Keir Starmer, and shortly to be Baroness Gray of Utter Failure. We have all seen people in the workplace fail upwards.

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Time after time they make a mess of their job and yet still seem to be promoted to a better post. Often it is because their boss just wants them out of their way even if that means stitching up others to do so by giving them a glowing reference.

It happens in every workplace, but some cases are worse than others. And this is worse than others... why precisely has she been ennobled?

This is the woman who Starmer plucked from the Civil Service - to huge fanfare a woman who knew the inner working of the Civil Service and government and was to prepare Labour for government.

And yet within record time, a mere 100 days, Starmer's government was plagued by reports of infighting, rows over Ms Gray's salary and freebies.