'Loyal and valued' aide becomes the latest insider to quit No 10

Keir Starmer's head of communications, Steph Driver, has announced she is leaving Downing Street. She is the latest in a series of trusted aides to the prime minister who have quit No 10 in recent months.

- Pippa Crerar Peter Walker

The departure of Driver, who spent five years at Starmer's side as communications chief when he was opposition leader, before becoming deputy director and then director of communications at Downing Street, comes little more than a week after Paul Ovenden quit as director of political strategy.

Also this month, James Lyons, who was the No 10 director of communications for strategy - Driver focused on day-to-day matters - left after only a year in the job.

A subsequent reshuffle of the comms operation led Starmer to bring in Tim Allan, an adviser to Tony Blair in No 10 who went on to fund the PR firm Portland, as executive director of government communications. While Driver and Lyons had equal status, Allan's job made him more senior.