They’re only 93 days in and they already run the risk of cementing their reputation as a government that is divided, incompetent and on the take. Quite an achievement, when you come to think about it.
Even though I am on the other side of the political fence, I take little relish from this continued display of utter political incompetence. I want our government to succeed, because if it does, we all do. What Labour are finding out is that government is much more difficult than they thought. And even someone with the talents of Sue Gray wasn’t able to change that.
I never thought Sue Gray would quit. I thought she would see off her enemies and become as important to Keir Starmer as Jonathan Powell was to Tony Blair. I thought the more her enemies attacked her, the more likely she was to cling to her job like a political limpet. How wrong I was. Perhaps we’ll never know if this move really was a resignation, or whether it was a politically convenient sacking. The move to a non-job in the Cabinet Office makes me think the latter is more likely.
Some people will say her departure was inevitable from the moment she was appointed, given the circumstances. In many ways it was a real coup and a political masterstroke by Keir Starmer. She was a serious player, steeped in knowledge of the machinery of government. She’d know how to pull the levers and get things done. She knew everyone. But within the senior echelons of Starmer’s office and the Labour Party, she was seen as a ‘Jill’ come lately, who hadn’t done the hardyards of opposition like the rest of them. How early she began to cross swords with the Head of Campaigning, Morgan McSweeney, I do not know, but their relationship soon became toxic, and this toxicity became public all too quickly. And it must be a humiliation for Gray that McSweeney is to step into her Chief of Staff’s shoes.
Starmer has made some other changes to his team, the most significant of which is to bring in former political journalist James Lyons in as Director of Strategic Communication. It’s not clear where this leaves Matthew Doyle. Lyons has been out of the lobby for many years, but as a Daily Mirror and subsequently Sunday Times journalist he was a shrewd operator, building good contacts all over the political spectrum and trusted by all.
Next Sunday will mark Labour’s first 100 days in power. They certainly hit the ground running, and Starmer handled the riots well, but since then it all seems to have fallen apart. Day 101 needs to signal a reboot, because if they go on like this it will be difficult for them to continue to purport they are the party of change, when the opposite will be clear to everyone.
