How a low-key reshuffle shows Sir Keir Starmer is deadly serious about the next election: The Labour leader has few definable principles, but is finally showing he has a genuine will to win, writes JASON GROVES
- Read more: Keir Starmer placates Angela Rayner with shadow deputy PM title
Sir Keir Starmer’s low-key reshuffle shows the Labour leader is deadly serious about winning the next general election.
While shadow cabinet big beasts such as Yvette Cooper and David Lammy stayed put, Sir Keir took the chance to promote a string of lesser known, battle-hardened pragmatists to key roles.
A striking number of those moving up are outspoken Blairites who were pushed to the margins during the Corbyn years, but are now coming in from the cold.
Most are not household names outside their own households but they will have a big role in shaping Labour’s approach to the next election.
Pat McFadden, who served as Sir Tony Blair’s canny political secretary in No10 and is still in regular contact with the former PM, has been put in charge of running Labour’s election campaign.
Sir Keir may have few definable principles, but he has demonstrated again that he has a genuine will to win
Hilary Benn, who served in Sir Tony’s Cabinet, is back on the front bench for the first time in years. Best known as the son of Left-wing firebrand Tony Benn, he is nevertheless on the Labour Right, telling anyone who will listen: ‘I’m a Benn, not a Bennite.’
And a string of other prominent Blairites have won promotions, including former leadership contender Liz Kendall, former campaigns co-ordinator Shabana Mahmood and Sir Keir’s friend Peter Kyle.
Fifteen years after he left office, it seems the Labour leadership has come round to loving Blair again – or at least loving his knack for winning elections.
The Labour leader was under pressure yesterday to come clean about how he will fund his programme in office after ruling out a rise in the basic rate of income tax. He tried to defuse concerns about Labour’s high-tax reputation by insisting: ‘We’re not increasing tax across the board.’ Sir Keir added in the Daily Mirror: ‘We will do nothing to increase the burden on working people’. Tory sources say his tax pledges were ‘not credible’ given Labour’s spending pledges.
The SNP MP David Linden described the shake up as ‘Blairism on steroids’, joking: ‘At this rate, I’ll be surprised if we are not invading Iraq by tea time.’
Some shadow cabinet members had urged Sir Keir to finish the job by also sacking Ed Miliband, who defined himself against Sir Tony. But Sir Keir has a blind spot about the former leader and has left him in place – for now.
The Blairite takeover is a far cry from Sir Keir’s pitch for the Labour leadership, when he painted himself as a Left-wing successor to Jeremy Corbyn He had vowed there would be ‘no more illegal wars’, pledged to tax the rich, nationalise utilities and scrap university tuition fees – promises which have all been ditched.
Sir Tony’s battered reputation is not the only winner from yesterday’s changes. The reshuffle suggests Sir Keir has also buried the hatchet for now with his troublesome deputy Angela Rayner.
During a botched reshuffle two years ago, Sir Keir tried to demote Ms Rayner, only to end up promoting her to an even bigger role following a backlash from her allies.
This time, he squared the pitch with her first and pandered to her substantial ego by promising that she will serve as deputy prime minister if Labour win next year.
The shift to the levelling up brief means she will spend a lot of time campaigning in Red Wall seats where Labour strategists believe her crude but effective style will play well. ‘It’s about putting round pegs in round holes,’ said one Labour source diplomatically.
And in a sop to the unions, Sir Keir also agreed that Ms Rayner will keep control of Labour’s employment rights agenda, which includes strengthening union recognition and the right to strike.
Yesterday’s reshuffle will make few ripples with the public in the short term. But Rishi Sunak cannot afford to ignore it
Sir Keir gave a further indication of his ruthless streak yesterday when he ruled out raising income tax if Labour win. Labour sources insisted that there is ‘nothing in our plans that requires us to raise taxes’.
It is hard to square this with the lavish promises made by some frontbenchers and the policy of spending an extra £28billion a year on green initiatives, but Sir Keir is hoping the public will not notice.
Yesterday’s reshuffle will make few ripples with the public in the short term. But Rishi Sunak cannot afford to ignore it. Sir Keir may have few definable principles, but he has demonstrated again that he has a genuine will to win.
The Blairites are back in Starmer reshuffle
Sir Keir Starmer signalled a Labour shift to the Right today as he appointed a string of Blairites to his top team.
In a major shake-up of the shadow cabinet, the Leader of the Opposition gave prominent roles to a number of admirers of the ex-prime minister.
Sir Keir brutally demoted former leadership rival Lisa Nandy and shifted his troublesome deputy Angela Rayner sideways.
Fellow Left-winger Rosena Allin-Khan quit, complaining her mental health brief had been demoted.
Most of Sir Keir’s most senior colleagues kept their jobs, with shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper, shadow foreign secretary David Lammy and shadow energy secretary Ed Miliband all staying put.
Sir Keir brutally demoted former leadership rival Lisa Nandy and shifted his troublesome deputy Angela Rayner sideways
But the long-awaited reshuffle was dominated by the promotion of those known to be close to Sir Tony Blair.
READ MORE: Voters now see Labour as the ‘low-tax party for families’
Pat McFadden, Sir Tony’s political secretary in Downing Street, was appointed as Labour’s national campaign co-ordinator, to work with Sir Keir on running the party’s election campaign.
Liz Kendall, another prominent figure on the Labour Right, was promoted to shadow work and pensions secretary, where she has been tasked with producing proposals for reform.
Ms Kendall stood for the party leadership in 2015 when she lost to Jeremy Corbyn, getting just 4.5 per cent of the vote.
Peter Kyle, another admirer of Sir Tony, was shifted to shadow secretary of state for science, innovation and technology.
Former minister Hilary Benn, who served in Sir Tony’s Cabinet, was brought in from the backbenches to shadow the Northern Ireland brief.
Former campaigns chief Shabana Mahmood, another figure on the Right of the party, was rewarded for her work in the local elections with a promotion to shadow justice secretary.
Lisa Nandy has been appointed shadow cabinet minister for international development as part of Sir Keir Starmer’s reshuffle of his top team
Sir Keir said the reshuffle meant Labour had ‘the strongest possible players on the pitch for what is going to be a crucial part of the journey’.
After cooling off, Gray starts Labour job
Former Partygate inquisitor Sue Gray started work as Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff yesterday and posed in her office in the Houses of Parliament for photographers.
Ms Gray triggered a furious reaction from the Government and the civil service earlier this year when she defected to Labour.
But an official body cleared her to take the job after a six-month cooling-off period, despite claims that she broke civil service rules by secretly discussing the role with Labour while still in government.
She is expected to draw up plans for reform of the civil service to help Labour push through its programme if the party gets into Downing Street next year, and was reportedly instrumental in Sir Keir’s Shadow Cabinet reshuffle yesterday.
Labour sources acknowledged its Blairite nature, saying Sir Keir wanted ‘the right team for the job’.
But Harriet Harman rejected the idea that he has moved to the Right.
The Labour MP told the BBC’s World at One: ‘I don’t accept that. I think that if you look at the mission statement that Keir Starmer has set out, that is a very progressive, radical and hopeful agenda.
‘All Leaders of the Opposition have to build [and] mould the policy and the organisation of the party. That’s exactly what Keir Starmer has done.
‘So I don’t see it at all as a swerve from one side of the party to another or a watering down of aspiration for the Government.’
Another big winner was Ms Rayner, who was confirmed as shadow deputy prime minister despite her sometimes difficult relationship with Sir Keir.
Sir Keir had not previously confirmed she would be made deputy prime minister if Labour win power.
She also takes over from Ms Nandy as shadow levelling up secretary.
But in an unusual move, she will retain responsibility for Labour policy on the ‘future of work’ – a demand of trade union bosses who have welcomed her plans to make it easier for employees to strike.
A Labour source said: ‘Keir is delighted that Angela has accepted this important role.’
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