David Lammy defends ‘young’ Labour government as poll shows most people think they are sleazy

David Lammy has said the government is “young” after Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff Sue Gray resigned and a new poll found most people think the government is “sleazy”.

The foreign secretary said Ms Gray was a “superb public servant” after she quit on Sunday following weeks of briefings against her, including her salary being leaked.

After she stepped down less than 100 days into Labour’s premiership, Mr Lammy said: “It’s a young government and we get on with the work ahead of us.”

He thanked Ms Gray for her service and congratulated her on her new job as the PM’s envoy for the UK’s nations and regions.

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Ms Gray stepped down after her perceived power and abilities were attacked by other Number 10 staff and civil servants who accused her of not having a handle on the damaging freebies row.

There were also reports of other special advisers having their pay kept down to the same levels as when they were in opposition, but now have much larger jobs, while Ms Gray was paid £170,000 – more than the PM.

She said she resigned because it was “clear to me that intense commentary around my position risked becoming a distraction”.

Following weeks of the row over freebies taken by Sir Keir and his top team, a new poll found six in 10 Britons (59%) now describe the Labour government as “sleazy”.

The YouGov poll, published on Monday, also found half (53%) of Britons expected Labour to behave well over standards.

Three in 10 Labour voters (30%) describe the government as sleazy, although six in 10 (59%) Conservative voters say the same of the 2019-2024 Conservative government.

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Disappointment is fairly uniform across parties, with 45% of Conservatives saying they expected Labour to behave better, 42% of Labour voters and 45% of Lib Dem voters.

Just a third of Labour voters (34%) say the new government has behaved as well as they thought it would.

When comparing Sir Keir Starmer with his predecessor, Rishi Sunak, the Labour leader comes off worse, with 35% saying Sir Keir is sleazier than Mr Sunak.

A total of 28% think Mr Sunak was sleazier than Sir Keir, and 23% view them as equally as sleazy as each other.

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Two thirds of Britons (66%) think it is unacceptable for politicians to receive complimentary concert or sports tickets, as Sir Keir and several of his cabinet have done.

But more than eight in 10 Britons (84%) feel it is wrong for party donors to be awarded peerages, as Boris Johnson attempted to do to Tory donor Stuart Marks.

Last week, Sir Keir repaid £6,000 worth of tickets he had taken since becoming prime minister.

YouGov surveyed 2,084 adults across Great Britain from 3-4 October.