Sue Gray will start work as Keir Starmer’s chief of staff by the autumn after a ruling by the watchdog on post-government jobs, but is facing a rap on the knuckles from the Cabinet Office alleging she broke the civil service code. Zac Goldsmith has resigned as a minister, accusing Rishi Sunak of being “uninterested” in the environment – but No 10 claimed he quit after being told to apologise for undermining the parliamentary Partygate inquiry into Boris Johnson. Rishi Sunak has unveiled his long-term workforce plan for the NHS, saying it has three features: “train, retain and reform”. (See 11.16am.) Commenting on the reform elements, he told a Downing Street press conference: It’s not enough just to have more doctors and nurses. We need to change the way they work so that they can deliver better care for patients. Partly, this is about seizing the opportunities of new technologies like AI. Or just look at virtual wards, which use technology to allow patients to recover at home, providing a better service at lower cost. But we’re also going to expand new roles like ‘nurse associates and physician associates’, so that the most qualified staff can focus on patients with the most complex needs. We’re going to drive the biggest ever expansion of apprenticeships in the NHS so that one fifth of all clinical training will be offered through degree apprenticeships, helping to bring staff into the NHS from a much wider range of backgrounds. Keir Starmer has been accused of presiding over a Labour party obsessed with “petty tyranny”, as Neal Lawson, the head of the centre-left pressure group Compass, claimed he faced expulsion as a member after 44 years. More than 24,000 asylum seekers from about one-third of the world’s countries could face removal to Rwanda by the UK Home Office in the future, even though the scheme was found to be unlawful in the court of appeal on Thursday. As Diane Taylor reports, Home Office data obtained under a freedom of information request shows that, between January 2021 and March 2023, 24,083 asylum seekers were issued with letters warning them that they were being considered for forcible removal. The chief executive of the water company Severn Trent is seeking backing from industry and the Labour party for British utility firms to be reformed as “social purpose” companies that would stay in private hands but give greater weight to the needs of customers, staff and the environment.