Sir Keir Starmer's decision to make Sue Gray his chief of staff will harm Labour's chances of winning back seats in the Red Wall at the next general election, the former chairman of the Conservative Party has claimed. 

Sir Jake Berry told Talk TV: "People in the Red Wall want to break down the establishment so their lives get better, you have a leader of the Labour Party who has in effect spent most of his life as a civil servant who is now taking on a chief adviser who is a civil servant. 

"It is going to be the sort of civil servant managerial government if he wins that doesn’t care about you and your family in Lancashire. That is why people shouldn’t vote for him."

Sir Jake Berry, the former chairman of the Conservative Party, claimed Sir Keir Starmer's decision to offer the job of his chief of staff to senior civil servant Sue Gray showed he was a "man of the establishment" who would run a "dull as ditch water government" if he wins power at the next general election. 

He told Talk TV: "I had some dealings with Sue Gray when I was in the Cabinet Office, I always found her very, very good to deal with. 

"But what I would say is I think this tells you a little bit about what a Keir Starmer government is going to be like. He is a man of the establishment having been the chief prosecutor for the UK. 

"He is going to take in the civil servant of all civil servants Sue Gray to run his charisma-bypass, dull as ditch water government if he wins the election. 

"The people who I represent in Lancashire want a disruptor who cares about the things that matter to them, not an SW1 civil service-type government and I think Keir Starmer has made a terrible mistake."