Guido hears Tim Allan, director of communications in Downing Street, has commissioned a redesign of HM Government’s Coat of Arms to make it look more ‘accessible.’ This is the man running the Labour government’s messaging in its worst month yet…
The government’s Coat of Arms is updated at the start of each monarch’s reign and denotes that authority of the government to act on behalf of said monarch. That one was last updated when Charles ascended…
The government for its own communications always uses “a simplified version of this for our Coat of Arms, known as the Lesser Arms. For communication purposes, there is a simpler, silhouette version of this Lesser Arms used.” It looks like this:
Most co-conspirators would agree the baroque imagery is nice. Guido hears Allan disagrees and believes it is too fusty – hence he has commissioned a redesign. Cue a blandification of the government’s own branding. Does this government have the capacity to leave literally anything well enough alone…
Let’s see Tim Allan’s coat of arms…
Downing Street is in bunker mode tonight. Insider veterans of political crises will recall that things get awfully quiet in these periods…
Guido hears senior No10 staff are privately meeting with Starmer in crisis talks tonight. A Downing Street source tells Guido it’s “not at all clear that McSweeney will survive” the coming hours and days. That notwithstanding McSweeney’s key defence remains – a No10 source said: “Starmer is very wedded to him and fears of a domino effect might protect him”…
Individuals inside Downing Street say the mood is “quietly bleak.” The government staved off a political death through a last minute Commons deal with the Tories. Things could move quickly now…
Amid the Mandelson blow up, discussions are underway in Downing Street with regard to Starmer’s political future. Including a reshuffle post-May elections…
The aim is to placate the Parliamentary Labour Party/soft left. No10 insiders are pricing in an attempt to bring Angela Rayner back into the fold to help on that. Starmer extended an olive branch in public on Monday. Two things could stymie that attempt: the timeline of HMRC’s investigation into her tax affairs, and her actual willingness to take on the job. As Guido’s Labour Wars column pointed out on Monday, Rayner will need to know that she has a secure post-Starmer future before heading back in…
Faith held in the new Labour backbench intake, comparatively large numbers of whom were promoted into government in 2024, has fallen away. Older intakes have never been rated highly by Starmer’s operation. That leaves one clear option – recruit more from outside. A Downing Street source says moves to “refresh or add a few more lords like Patrick Vallance” who can “get stuff done” are being discussed. A shake-up could also attempt to resolve issues in the Cabinet Office like moving the top team along or even removing the Cabinet Secretary himself…
There is gossip too about Cabinet moves. Spin the wheel…
Discussions are underway about moving David Lammy on from the MoJ. One senior government source tells Guido he is “singularly unable to grip the MoJ and won’t deal with a very poor top team of officials.” A SpAd clearout under Lammy is ongoing – longtimer Ben Judah is gone and there were discussions about other senior exits. Sources close to the Justice Secretary speculate that Lammy could simply retain the DPM role. His love of luxury trappings and foreign travel is a running joke in Whitehall…
There are whispers now at the heart of SW1 about the huge red lever labelled ‘eject Rachel Reeves.’ It would be seismic…
Spin from both the Treasury and Downing Street in the run up to the last Budget sought to tie Starmer and Reeves’ fates together. Now the Budget is a few stops back – tempora mutantur…
A Downing Street source tells Guido there is “increasing speculation that Reeves has become moveable now we’ve gone beyond the Budget.” Another senior Labour source said: “Who has the PLP blamed most frequently for the shambles so far? Reeves.” A third government source added that the Chancellor is diminished – her absence from the China trip is a hot topic in SW1 – and increasingly battered by No10 on major policy fights. Think, farming, business rates, and about ten others in the last six months…
More difficult is trying to demote or sack Miliband, who would cause far too much trouble. Downing Street has long speculated that Ed fancies himself a go with the red box…
Following on from Guido’s Labour Wars column yesterday the situation inside Downing Street is looking poor for Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney. Mandelson was his closest confidante, they called almost every day and met frequently for years, McSweeney pushed his appointment…
A Downing Street source says Starmer likely “won’t sack him – at least until May.” This being said Guido hears backbenchers are registering their fury at McSweeney and the whips are reporting that there is widespread blame on him from the PLP who are in turn receiving a barrage from their constituents. An insider source says “Jonathan Powell and Tim Allan will be key to how long Morgan lasts”…
The longer the story stays salient the worse it will be for Morgan. A No10 source says that were a full timeline of Mandelson’s appointment to be released it would be extremely damaging for McSweeney because “if ever released it would show just how much Morgan was pushing his appointment” involving “lots of meetings with Darren Tierney and his Propriety and Ethics team, the FCDO and others.” Starmer is said to have been kept in the dark as to most of this. Something of which the beleaguered PM will now be acutely aware…
Guido exclusively reported in last week’s members-only Labour Wars column that there is real frustration in government levelled at Starmer’s personal SpAd/minister Darren Jones. The ‘Chief Secretary to the PM’ is derided as smug and ineffective – a Downing Street source reports he is “actively harming the business of government”…
Talk around Whitehall is that the chaotic Cabinet Office – now overseen by Jones – is worse than ever. About 80% of government matters that don’t fit neatly into a department is handled by the CO…
Guido hears Whitehall’s chief fixer Louise Casey is intensely frustrated at the situation. Insider sources say the top personnel are to blame: Darren Jones, Permanent Secretary Catherine Little, Second Permanent Secretary Clara Swinson, and Cabinet Secretary Chris Wormald. Wormald in particular has been at the end of a barrage of criticism…
Senior government sources bemoan Wormald’s continued presence in the job as well as the departures of ex-Deputy National Security Adviser Jonathan Black, and ex-Propriety and Constitution Director Darren Tierney, who left last year. Starmer – now gallivanting in China – has so far done nothing…
A Downing Street source tells Guido that Starmer is sleepwalking on the issue because “the foreign policy element works” while the department’s domestic functions get even worse. Things are coming to a head for Wormald – his obvious replacements Home Office permanent secretary Antonia Romeo or the FCDO’s Olly Robbins are circling…
Downing Street is chalking up Burnham’s blockage as a win even as backbenchers organise in favour of the Manchester mayor and government figures privately admit Gorton and Denton is now lost for the Labour Party. It’s the small victories…
A Downing Street source tells Guido that Starmer’s top aides are “wandering around as if they’ve just pulled off Operation Mincemeat” after executing the “only thing Keir could do.” Starmer’s opponents are empowered but government sources still don’t predict any movement until after the May local elections…
Fifty backbenchers have written to Starmer to complain that blocking Burnham is a “real gift” to Reform while the left-wing Tribune Group complains separately to Shabana Mahmood about the NEC decision. Government figures are briefing in anticipation of a hard landing – one tells the Times that the choice was losing the by-election or losing Manchester…
Housing secretary Steve Reed – on the morning round today – said Burnham should serve his full term: “Voters have a right to expect that if they elect a politician to a job, that they will serve out the full term for the job that they have elected them to do.” The Greens are now in pole position with the bookies in Gorton and Denton on 43% to Reform’s 36% – Labour trails on 20%…
Former Labour leader Neil Kinnock was asked if Burnham will take Britain back into the EU:
“Yes, sure – his commitment is authentic. He really does understand from the grassroots up why restoring what I think of as normality in our continent is vital for every party economically, politically, culturally, in terms of security, and he’s able to articulate it in language that people can understand. So yeah, he is definitely”.
