‘McSweeney’s new role should end in-infighting, but Labour must radically reform government itself to win in 2029’

Dysfunction and disquiet at No.10 has forced Keir Starmer to act. The prime minister has replaced chief of staff Sue Gray with Morgan McSweeney, before reaching 100 days into his time in office.

McSweeney’s appointment should end the factional infighting in Downing Street that has plagued the government in its short tenure so far. But changes in personnel at the top of No.10 will not be enough to solve the problems at the centre.

In recent years, prime ministers and their staff have often made a big show of resetting Downing Street, only to continue to find governing hard because of the centre’s underlying dysfunction. It is this problem that Keir Starmer and his new top team now need to urgently address.

At the next general election, Labour will want to show voters that it has governed with competence and delivered change on the issues the electorate cares most about, including immigration and the state of public services. But the existing set-up at the centre will hinder, not help, them to achieve their goals. Without a radical overhaul, it is an existential risk to Labour’s prospects for re-election.

The prime minister needs better support from the centre of government

While McSweeney’s appointment has made lines of accountability in No.10 clearer, the department itself is unable to provide the support the prime minister deserves. Nowhere is this more acute than when it comes to economic advice.

Patrick Maguire recently reported in The Times that Starmer’s operation is currently without a single economic adviser, and new principal private secretary Nin Pandit has no experience in the Treasury. Analytical capability is also lacking, with the No.10 Data Science Unit (10DS) being moved to the Cabinet Office at the outset of Starmer’s tenure.

The Cabinet Office itself is an incoherent combination of secretariats, policy teams and the government’s corporate functions, like civil service HR. At its most problematic it confuses No.10’s authority and fails to perform its essential brokering function.

The prime minister’s support needs strengthening, and the new cabinet secretary, once appointed, should be tasked with building a Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, merging the prime ministerially-focused parts of the Cabinet Office with No.10. Even before that process begins, McSweeney and Pandit should recruit a new economic unit to support the prime minister, and move 10DS back into Downing Street.

The prime minister’s new top team needs to define the government’s purpose

Starmer and his team also need to be clearer about what they want to achieve in government. The five missions, while important, cover swathes of domestic policy and do not yet translate into a strategic vision that informs the decisions that need to be taken across government.

New administrations in other often countries often publish an early programme for government, and Starmer’s government should follow suit. No.10’s new leadership team should commission an exercise which more precisely defines the metrics which matter to the missions and use that to pull together such a programme. Crucially, this programme should not simply list policies like in a manifesto; it should have a clear sense of prioritisation and make explicit the trade-offs the government is willing to make to achieve its biggest priorities.

This would give the government a set of ‘north stars’ it can use to communicate to Whitehall and the country what it is trying to achieve, and echo bold Labour administrations of the past – Clement Attlee’s administration, for example, was upfront that losing some “so-called economic freedom” was a price worth paying to enact its agenda.

It would also ensure that the government goes into the upcoming multi-year spending review with a clear policy agenda which the Treasury can use to allocate spending review settlements, rather than leaving a strategic vacuum which would mean settlements are allocated according to the Treasury’s own fiscal logic.

Starmer’s team should be better at communicating the government’s agenda

The lack of clarity over Labour’s policy agenda has made proactive communication with the public, to explain what the government is doing and how citizens will benefit, more difficult. But this problem has been exacerbated by a No.10 communications team which is still too much of a ‘press office’, focused on short-term firefighting rather than building longer term trust and confidence by explaining what the government stands for.

James Lyons’ appointment as head of a strategic communications unit is an opportunity to reset the way the government communicates. His team will work best if its remit is clearly defined in comparison to the existing communications team. If it is to take a bigger picture approach to communications, it should have a better balance between new and traditional media platforms and be able listen to the public to understand its concerns and priorities.

Starmer’s operation also needs to be better at reactive communication. For weeks the newspapers and broadcast bulletins have been dominated by stories that have portrayed the government as chaotic and ethically questionable. More effectively rebutting these sorts of stories, or at least finding sensible lines to take in response, is important for the government to limit the damage. However that responsibility is now managed between Lyons and existing director of communications Matthew Doyle, Labour need it done better.

The government’s first 100 days in office have been hamstrung by a centre of government that is functioning badly. This reset is a chance to do things differently, but it should involve more than changes in personnel. The prime minister and his restructured team must use this opportunity to address long-standing, underlying problems with the centre – and give themselves a better chance of delivering the change they believe the public want.

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