Sue Gray’s final departure marks the moment that the Starmer project gets serious | Martin Kettle

Sue Gray’s departure matters not in the way some may assume.

Her job was to ensure that the new government hit the ground running.

But her failure was that she prepared Labour for government in the wrong way.

She did not accept that, in modern politics and government, the centre will always want to shape what is done at departmental level.

The Blairites or some of them are indeed back, says Martin Kettle .

Their return does not embody a change of political direction for the Starmer government.

It consolidates Starmer 's willingness to grasp that Labour ’s project will not get far in the Trumpian 2020s unless it draws on experienced and politically savvy people.