Labour's Preparation for Power
Sir Keir Starmer's former chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, has acknowledged that Labour did not adequately prepare for governance prior to its decisive general election victory. In his first media interview, McSweeney told the BBC's Nick Robinson that he does not yet have all the answers regarding the prime minister's sudden political decline just two years after leading the party back into office.
He admitted that Labour had insufficiently considered how the global landscape had evolved since the party's last tenure in government during the 1990s. McSweeney also stated that the party should have been "way more optimistic" during its initial months in office and that it failed to deliver results swiftly enough to meet voter expectations.
"We didn't prepare enough for what kind of world we were going to. We are now in a very different era than when Labour was last in government.
I think we didn't have enough conversations at the top of the party about what that meant, how to prepare for it, what that meant for the state.
You have to deliver quite quickly for people, for them to see the change quickly. And I think we didn't come in with enough of a theory about how we would do that."
McSweeney managed Labour's successful 2024 election campaign and subsequently joined Sir Keir's office as head of political strategy. Despite his significant behind-the-scenes role, he maintained a low profile until earlier this year when he resigned due to his involvement in Peter Mandelson's appointment as the UK's ambassador to the US.
He described himself as "still processing" Sir Keir's political downfall but identified a lack of preparation as a major factor in the government's early difficulties, noting that Labour's time in opposition "went quickly."
Expectations and Planning
McSweeney explained that many anticipated Labour would need at least two election cycles to regain power following its heavy defeat in 2019. He said "quite a lot of people" believed the party should have planned for defeat rather than victory in 2024. Reflecting on early planning meetings that year, he recalled realizing that the party had not sufficiently prepared for government.
He succeeded top civil servant Sue Gray as Sir Keir's chief of staff three months after Labour returned to office. When asked about Gray's involvement in government preparations, McSweeney emphasized that the issue was not attributable to any single individual. He stated, "When I say we weren't prepared, I really do mean the Labour Party more generally." He accepted personal responsibility rather than blaming others.
"I take my own responsibilities for that, rather than blaming one person."
He added that Sir Keir had raised points about how Britain had changed since Labour's last term but that the party had not thoroughly discussed the implications for government preparation.
Winter Fuel Payments Controversy
Reflecting on Labour's early months in office, when it criticized the public finances inherited from the Conservatives, McSweeney said the party should have adopted a more optimistic stance initially. He acknowledged that the early decision to remove winter fuel payments from millions of pensioners, a policy later reversed, was a mistake that "defined the government in a way that did us a lot of damage."
He maintained that Labour was justified in attempting to means-test the benefit but conceded that the eligibility threshold was set too low. Additionally, he admitted that the party was undoubtedly harmed by an early controversy involving gifts to ministers from donors. Sir Keir himself had accepted thousands of pounds worth of clothing and spectacles while in opposition.
"Whilst politicians require a 'wardrobe budget' given the need to regularly appear on TV during campaigns, it would have been better for this to have been paid for out of the party's campaign budget."
No 10 North and Other Reflections
In other parts of the interview, McSweeney remarked that he found former US President Donald Trump "much funnier than I expected him to be." He recounted a first phone call with Sir Keir during which officials struggled to contain their amusement at a joke Trump made about foxes eating birds killed by "windmills," his term for wind turbines.
"He went on to say that as the foxes ate so many birds and became lazy, they became fat, and as they became so fat people no longer knew what kind of a creature they were."
When asked if Trump was attempting humor, McSweeney replied, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Definitely."
McSweeney also expressed support for Andy Burnham, Sir Keir's expected successor as Labour leader, stating, "I feel optimistic about it." He endorsed Burnham's proposal to establish a Downing Street unit in Manchester, rejecting the notion that it was merely a "gimmick."
"If at the top of government there are people who don't just have a desk somewhere outside London but actually live their whole lives outside of London, I think that will be a good thing.
A lot of people won't like it. I think it's a good idea. I think he should just push it through, the logistics can be sorted out."
Regarding the conclusion of Sir Keir's tenure, McSweeney revealed he found himself too saddened to watch the entirety of the prime minister's emotional resignation speech at Downing Street last week.
On his own future, McSweeney indicated a desire to pursue a "completely different direction" professionally, stating he had no plans to return to British politics "in the foreseeable."
"I mean, I can't say forever, but certainly for the next few years I'm committing to being out of politics for at least the next few years ahead."
