Sir Keir Starmer’s principal private secretary, Ninjeri Pandit, is leaving her role, Sky News understands.
She has been in post less than a year and is the third senior aide to Sir Keir to leave their role in 12 months, after chief of staff Sue Gray and director of communications Matt Doyle.
The BBC reports that the PM had “become concerned” that Ms Pandit was “ineffective” in the role, though a Downing Street source insisted that Ms Pandit retained Sir Keir’s “trust and confidence”.
Politics live: Another Starmer aide leaving role
It is worth noting that Mr Doyle and Ms Gray were political appointees, while Ms Pandit is a civil servant.
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According to her biography on the government website, Ms Pandit was the director of the Downing Street policy unit from late 2022, when Rishi Sunak was prime minister.
Before that, she worked on health policy in Downing Street, and was chief of staff and lead policy adviser to the NHS England CEO.
Downing Street declined to comment on internal staffing.
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In a blog post from 2021, former Downing Street aide Dominic Cummings said Ms Pandit was “one of the many brilliant young women I saw around the table who would have been a 10 [times] better PM than [Boris Johnson]”.
The principal private secretary runs the prime minister’s private office and manages the civil service team in Downing Street.
