Keir Starmer is set to replace a THIRD senior staff member in less than a year as PM’s top official leaves her role

Sir Keir Starmer is replacing a third senior staff member in less than a year as his top official leaves her role.

Nin Pandit, the Prime Minister’s principal private secretary (PPS), has only been in her job for 10 months but is now moving to another role in Downing Street.

No10 pushed back against claims, made in a BBC report, that Sir Keir had become concerned she was ‘ineffective’ as the top civil servant in his Downing Street office.

It is understood Ms Pandit will now lead work on delivering the PM’s priorities as Sir Keir looks to take ‘direct oversight’ of how his Government operates.

She is said to have Sir Keir’s trust and backing to lead that work as a former No10 policy chief, while an internal process has begun to replace her as the PM’s PPS.

It comes after Sue Gray quit as the PM’s chief of staff in October last year, while Sir Keir also saw his communications chief, Matthew Doyle, resign in March.

Ms Pandit was drafted in to her role as part of a raft of changes to the PM’s team in No10 in the wake of Baroness Gray’s departure.

Baroness Gray, who was handed a peerage by Sir Keir after she left No10, quit following weeks of speculation about a Downing Street power struggle.

It comes after Sue Gray (left) quit as the PM’s chief of staff in October last year, while Sir Keir also saw his communications chief, Matthew Doyle (right), resign in March

In a radical shake-up of his No10 team, Sir Keir named Morgan McSweeney as Baroness Gray’s replacement.

He also appointed two new deputy chiefs of staff, a head of a new ‘strategic communications team’, and Ms Pandit as his PPS.

But, despite the overhaul of his Downing Street operation, Sir Keir has continued to see Labour slump in opinion polls in the months since.

This week’s latest YouGov poll, published while the PM enjoys a family holiday abroad, showed just 20 per cent of voters would back Labour at a general election.

This was down one percentage point from the previous week and is both the party’s worst result since Sir Keir took office, as well as their lowest rating since July 2019.

Reform UK were shown to hold an eight-point lead over Labour in the latest survey, with Nigel Farage ‘s party backed by 28 per cent of voters.

As the PM’s PPS, Ms Pandit is responsible for controlling the flow of Whitehall information to Sir Keir and shapes his diary.

It is seen as one of the most prized jobs in the Civil Service.

Before becoming Sir Keir’s top official, Ms Pandit ran the No10 policy unit during Rishi Sunak’s premiership.

Earlier in her career she was chief of staff to NHS England’s chief executive.