Labour reshuffles point to a party lacking a plan

In 1997 Tony Blair came to power with a plan, a team to put it into practice and a communications rottweiler ready to do whatever it took to control the narrative. In 2024, Keir Starmer didn’t – and the details of this comparison are worth noting as Starmer reshuffles his Downing Street team after less than 100 days on the job. Blair had a brand – New Labour. He had a general direction: the third way. Within their first 100 days he and his chancellor had announced they were making the Bank of England independent, negotiating an unconditional ceasefire with the IRA and starting the process of devolution. Nothing Team Starmer has done since 5 July comes close.

Blair arrived in Downing Street staffed for government. He had

• Jonathan Powell, an ex-diplomat and journalist, as chief of staff;
• Alastair Campbell, a former newspaper editor, as head of comms;
• David Miliband (whom Campbell called “Brains”) as de facto head of policy;
• Richard Wilson, a civil servant with senior experience of six government departments, in line to become cabinet secretary in January 1998;
• Frank Field to “think the unthinkable” about welfare reform; and
• the two Eds – Miliband and Balls – cutting their teeth advising then-chancellor Gordon Brown.

Not incidentally, Blair and Brown were themselves policy heavyweights, even if they often disagreed.

Starmer arrived with

• Sue Gray as chief of staff and, as it turned out, as a lightning rod for negative briefings and press until her removal at the weekend after three months;
• Matthew Doyle as head of comms, with long experience in government but none as a journalist;
• Simon Case, soon to stand down as cabinet secretary; and
• no principal private secretary until Nin Pandit was moved to the role at the weekend.

Starmer now has no head of policy since that is the role Pandit vacated, and there are questions being asked about whether he is interested in policy himself.

New chief of staff. Morgan McSweeney is more interested in policy and politics than Gray was, but critics say his greatest successes have been in factional warfare against Labour’s left. Beyond that he’s largely untested for such a significant role.

New voice for comms. James Lyons, a former lobby correspondent, is being brought in to lead a new strategic communications team, but there are grumbles that Doyle, to whom he reports, has dropped the ball too many times to stay in post.

As one senior figure said: “Blair’s strength was having a number of very seasoned political people who worked together but also disagreed, including in front of the PM.”

What next? Some see Gray’s departure as the end of a power struggle; others say more big names are needed to bolster policy formation. Peter Mandelson, Alan Milburn and David Miliband are among those being talked about in Westminster. In light of the comms failures of the last few weeks, some say Campbell should be tapped up (“whatever he would demand to come back”).

“Transitions are very difficult, even if you are well set-up,” says another former insider. “Blair wasn’t Blair in 1997, Thatcher wasn’t Thatcher in ’79. The biggest question is not about Sue – the gossip – it’s about what does the PM want to do, how does he want to organise the centre, and who does he turn to very quickly for policy ideas? If he is not interested in policy there is a much bigger issue – who is going to drive it?”

Before Gray’s defenestration, Starmer was coming under pressure to bring “root and branch” change to his team. There is relief that the process has started – but sources strike a note of warning that the job is not yet done.