The tension is palpable, the body language speaks volumes. These extraordinary photographs of a heated conversation in the Downing Street garden appear to lay bare the bitter feuding between Keir Starmer’s most senior officials.
Despite weeks of denials that there has been a breakdown in relations between Sue Gray, Starmer’s powerful but divisive chief of staff, and rival camps inside No 10, the pictures tell a different story.
They show Gray locked in tense talks with Michael Bourke, the Principal Private Secretary to Cabinet Secretary Sir Simon Case.
The most senior civil servant in the land, Case is embroiled in an acrimonious turf war with Gray, who wants him to leave Downing Street.
According to an eyewitness, the conversation was animated, often intense, with both parties gesticulating at each other. Gray did most of the talking.
In a heated exchange between Sue Gray (left) and Michael Bourke (right), a witness said Gray did most of the talking
It is said…