Lobby hacks are this week still asking Starmer’s spokesman about Sue Gray’s fake envoy job. Surprise surprise, no updates…

When Gray resigned back at the start of the month the PM said “he was ‘delighted’ she would stay by his side in her new role.’” Let’s see how that’s going…

Guido hears from Downing Street that Sue is hilariously “still deciding if she is doing the envoy job.” In the meantime she has no desk, no contract, and no internal IT. So much for sitting by Keir’s side…

Contracts and pay for SpAds are set to be finally signed off next week. Guido hears the Cabinet Office is pushing to get everything wrapped up, pencilling in next Thursday as the date. Though, as always in Whitehall, there’s a chance political wrangling could push things further down the line…

Also on the agenda is the publication of SpAd registered interests. Expect some eyebrow-raising revelations…

Under Sue Gray, SpAds found themselves on unusual four-month probationary contracts – a mark that ironically Gray didn’t quite make herself. Now it’s Morgan McIavelli’s turn to whip the team into shape and stamp out any murmurs of unionisation over pay and conditions. Preliminary commiserations for those SpAds who don’t make it onto permanent contracts…

Lobby journalists are rightfully confused about Sue Gray’s new completely made-up role as the PM’s “Envoy for the Nations and Regions.” Hilariously Downing Street is still today not commenting on whether she will attend the Council of Nations and Regions meeting in Scotland tomorrow. If she doesn’t go to those then what actually is her job?

Guido hears it’s bedlam inside No 10 over this as Sue is in reality spending her time battling for a huge severance package and salary for her new role. The Cabinet Office is said to be resisting as approval for her demands needs to come from the top – Gray is not entitled to the level of severance she is demanding. No wonder the government refused to tell Guido what severance she’d be paid, say what salary she’ll be on, or indeed what her role actually is – they have no idea…

A Downing Street source tells Guido: “They just need to end it, send her to the Lords and move on. We’re all sick of her continuing to dominate things – she has been sacked. So why are we all indulging her?” Hell hath no fury like a Sue scorned…

UPDATE: Gray will not attend the inaugural meeting of the Council of Nations and Regions tomorrow. So much for her “vital role” in strengthening our relations with the regions and nations that Starmer was supposedly so “delighted” by…

UPDATE II: Presuming Gray was on a regular SpAd contract with 4 months probation, she would not be entitled to severance pay. It would need to be publicly approved from the top…

SpAd School is back in session, and all eyes are on the 6 p.m. meeting today. New Chief of Staff McSweeney is expected to make an appearance, likely accompanied by his freshly minted deputies. McIavelli will no doubt be cracking the whip among advisers, promising change with the new regime…

McSweeney has inherited quite the mess from his predecessor, Gray. Insiders are grumbling about the systemic issues plaguing the government machinery, with many complaining that a revamp of Number 10 won’t help. To add to the chaos, long-term contracts for SpAds still remain unsigned. Gray had placed them on a four-month probation period and SpAds are still considering unionisation due to pay cuts and work overloads…

With just weeks to go before those probationary contracts expire, it would be a surprise if McSweeney could whip the chaos into shape. Meanwhile, Morgan has wasted no time in jumping into his new role, already attending Cabinet today. He’s trying make ‘change’ begin…

Guido can confirm that highly respected No 10 foreign policy adviser John Bew has told colleagues he will shortly be departing Downing Street. Labour briefed back in July that Bew wouldn’t be allowed to continue advising as a SpAd, and a month later he was said to be still at work in government on “a series of defence-related issues.” Now he jokes that as “an excellent new foreign affairs team beds in, it is a good time to sub myself off before I begin to resemble dear old Casemiro”…

Bew, who has survived four PMs, tells colleagues will now take up long-held plans to start as Professor of History and Foreign Policy at KCL – where he’ll be heading up a new Centre for Statecraft and National Security. He’s also taking up a position as Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University to work on an Urgent Security project as well as becoming Distinguished Advisor to the Australian National Security College. Bew’s keeping busy…

Government insiders speak highly of Bew and there were some rumours he would stay on in a Starmer administration. It’s Downing Street’s loss…

Labour spent their time in opposition on a moral crusade, wagging their fingers at Tory “cronyism” and promising they’d be the ones to “clean up politics.” Though Starmer’s lofty pledges to govern “with openness and transparency in everything we do” are not ageing well…

After 76 days in power, the Cabinet Office’s list of SpAd interests still hasn’t been published. Maybe Sue Gray (on £170,000-a-year salary) and her slow appointments of SpAds — is to blame for the delay…

In the past, these lists have revealed commercial ties and side gigs of SpAds. So, it’ll be interesting to see given current events – if and when Labour finally releases it – especially with some whispers suggesting advisers are being part funded by Labour-linked advisory firms. One for the transparency Starmer preaches, surely…