Advisers to prime ministers are often targets of sniping but being in news is not sustainable for Starmer’s chief of staff

For someone who was not even in Liverpool for the Labour conference, Sue Gray was the subject of a remarkable amount of conversation. So what does the future hold for Keir Starmer’s chief of staff – and how much is she just 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 bottleneck to decisions. Either way, she has been the focus of much briefing to the media, often negative.