In the Corbyn years, the Labour Together caucus of centrist MPs tried to make the case for making the party electable again. In 2020, with Morgan McSweeney as director, MPs in the group including Steve Reed, Shabana Mahmood, Lucy Powell, Wes Streeting, Bridget Philipson, Jim McMahon, Jon Cruddas, Lisa Nandy and Rachel Reeves got behind Starmer. McSweeney became Starmer’s chief-of-staff and is now the Labour Party’s campaign director.
It is a sign of the times that the faction is now confidently charting a path into Downing Street. A new pamphlet from the group “Red Shift“, based on YouGov polling, claims that there are “six distinct voter groups in England & Wales. To win the next election, a party must win four of them. In 2019, the Conservatives won five. Now, they are only winning in two.”
‘Stevenage Woman‘ and ‘Workington Man‘ are the key swing demographic groups apparently. In 2019, the Conservatives won both groups comfortably. Now Labour holds leads of 28 points and 41 points amongst each respectively. The authors warn that the electorate is volatile, Labour Together argues that two things will guarantee Labour’s victory:
- Labour must hold the line on societal and cultural issues. Tough on crime, exerting a firm grip over migration, supporting robust military support for Ukraine against Russian aggression, be comfortable with the Union Jack and sing the national anthem at Labour conference. “To retain support from voters who are more socially conservative than Labour’s 2019 vote, the party must hold firm to this line.”
- Labour must address people’s profound sense of insecurity. “A new ‘Politics of Security’ – focused on strong finances, safe streets and a secure nation – could bind together a wide coalition of voters and secure Labour’s place in power for years to come. “
The report points out that Stevenage (which has backed the governing party at every election since the constituency was created), is back in play – and Labour is forecast to win it. Guido suspects Stevenage Woman will not be impressed with Suzy/Eddie Izzard and the now seemingly abandoned trans agenda that Starmer is burning rubber reversing away from at speed. Labour’s Starmerites are determined to get the ideological barnacles off the boat…
Keir Starmer wasn’t lying when he told Piers Morgan he’d been “listening” to Tony Blair’s leadership advice. Over the past few weeks, Sir Keir’s been pulling every lever within reach to fulfill the promise of a “total deconstruction and reconstruction” of the Labour Party. A “reconstruction” which, coincidentally, means appointing a load of Blairites…
Almost every organ of the party – from the Leader’s Office, to the frontbench, to the PLP, and to the National Executive Committee – has seen a wave of changes over the last few weeks. It hasn’t happened overnight, though now the purpose is quite clear: a doubling down on “New New Labour”.
In the Leader’s Office, Blairite Sam White was recently enlisted as Chief of Staff replacing Morgan McSweeney, joining new strategist Deborah Mattinson (Blair/Brown adviser), and interim director of communications Matthew Doyle (Blair adviser) replaces Ben Nunn. This, of course, follows Carolyn Harris’s resignation as Starmer’s parliamentary private secretary in May, along with Jenny Chapman’s unceremonious shafting as his director of politics a month later. Deconstruction and reconstruction, piece by piece.
Over in the PLP, Ben Folley (a relic of the Corbyn golden years) has announced today he’s leaving his role as General Secretary of the Parliamentary Labour Party, which follows Starmer’s ruthless purge of thousands of far-left loons at the National Executive Committee meeting last week. And of course, this is before you even get to the botched reshuffle of the frontbench…
UPDATE 28 July: Keir Starmer’s speechwriter and close aide Chris Ward has told colleagues he is quitting according to the Guardian. Which begs the question, who will be his new speechwriter? If he is recycling Blairites, he could bring back Phil Collins, the recently sacked Times columnist now with time on his hands. After all he did write some of the most memorable speeches for Tony Blair…
UPDATE 29 July: Tom Hughes, who worked on Starmer’s leadership campaign before joining the leader’s office as press officer and spokesperson, is leaving.
An internal briefing to the Labour LGA leaked to Guido admits that “large majorities” are giving the government the benefit of the doubt over its handling of the Coronavirus pandemic. Despite some Labour MPs focusing relentlessly on death tolls, polling commissioned for the Labour Party found that a big majority of the public agree with the statement that:
“Responding to the Coronavirus would have been hard for any government and on the whole the government has done as well as could be expected”
The document also warns Labour campaigners in capital letters that “VACCINATION IS POPULAR!” – encouraging local parties to instead be positive about the rollout, and focus on thanking the NHS. Seems the pandemic hasn’t been “a good crisis” for Labour after all…
A companion document prepared for LGA Labour by consultancy The Campaign Company, and also leaked to Guido, tells the party that “last year has not fundamentally re-set the terms” of politics. Instead it recommends that the most effective points of attack on the Government are not the lockdown delays, rather messaging should instead focus on bread and butter “services, council tax, development, outsourcing”. Looks like Labour squandered their “great opportunity“…
UPDATE: The Times’ Patrick Maguire points out that “the firm that drafted this briefing for LGA Labour – The Campaign Company – was founded and until last June run by David Evans, Labour’s general secretary. Also used to employ Morgan McSweeney, Starmer’s chief of staff”. This is Team Starmer’s thinking…
