Last night it was reported the government’s plan to hire 12 Levelling Up directors across the UK has been scrapped, with Levelling Up minister Dehenna Davison confirming in a written ministerial question that the £144,000 jobs, despite “over 500 applicants“, are no longer available following “wider departmental changes“. Labour are fuming, with both Lisa Nandy and Alex Norris declaring the move “an embarrassing shambles“. Norris went even further in PoliticsHome, attacking the hiring process for being “beset by delays”…

“The story of these directors is symptomatic of the government’s approach to Levelling Up: announced with big fanfare before being beset by delays and then quietly dropped by ministers who hope nobody notices.”

Nandy and Norris might want to think twice when complaining the recruitment process for this took too long. Who was supposed to help hire these regional chiefs? None other than the Levelling Up department’s then-second permanent secretary, Sue Gray. Forever waiting for Sue Gray…