Chief of staff leaves amid restructuring to put Labour on “election footing”

Sam White is leaving his role as chief of staff as part of an accelerated restructuring of key roles in an attempt by Keir Starmer to put his party on an “election footing” given the “implosion” of the Conservatives.

In a statement released this morning, the party said the Labour leader called a meeting with his staff and general secretary David Evans in which he told his team that “the government’s collapse has given us a huge chance”.

“The instability means they could fall at any time. Because of that we need to get on an election footing straight away,” Starmer added.

The Labour leader is said to have told party employees that “this is not time for complacency or caution” and that long-planned changes to structures must be brought forward in light of the Conservative Party’s “implosion”.

It is believed that he urged the party to “seize the opportunity we have and show the British people we are the party that can lead our country forward”

Sam White, a 46-year-old former Treasury special adviser who worked for Alistair Darling during the Tony Blair and Gordon Brown administrations from 2004 to 2010 and who was appointed in July 2021, will leave his role as chief of staff.

The restructuring will see policy and communications roles move to Labour headquarters and reporting directly to the general secretary. Evans is said to have stated that no other jobs are at risk as a result of the restructure.

Starmer said White “played an incredible role taking our operation to the next level” and that “under his leadership the team has become better and stronger”. But he said the merger meant that running the leader’s office is becoming a smaller role “and we both agree as we’re making this change, now is the right time to go”.

White said: “The next phase of the campaign needs a different structure, but we part very much as friends with the intent to work together again in the future. You’ll find no greater champion for a Starmer government than me.”