Keir Starmer finds himself in a familiar position: being forced to defend Morgan McSweeney. The same was true after the “island of strangers” speech, after Labour’s welfare revolt and after the sacking of Peter Mandelson, events which saw a progressively larger group call for his chief of staff’s departure. On each occasion Starmer has deemed McSweeney – the man who devised the strategies that won him the Labour leadership election and the general election – too valuable to lose.
The question being asked across government this morning is whether this time is different. Cabinet ministers are calling for McSweeney to be sacked after No 10’s calamitous briefing against Wes Streeting. Though the chief of staff categorically denies criticising the Health Secretary, even traditional allies believe he will struggle to survive this crisis. “Keir is a ruthless guy when he needs to be and the question is whether the fire is getting too close to him and he needs a firebreak,” says a government source. “That would be Morgan”.
One of the many ironies of this affair, insiders observe, is that McSweeney and Streeting find themselves on different sides. During Labour’s early years in opposition it was routinely claimed that McSweeney viewed Starmer as a transitional Kinnock-style figure who would ultimately be supplanted by his true candidate: Streeting. As recently as this week, some in government still speculated about a putative alliance between the pair (others believe that Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, is McSweeney’s preferred candidate).
But any prospect of this has ended. As he excoriates No 10’s “toxic” briefing culture, Streeting is now aligned with some of McSweeney’s most avowed foes, such as deputy Labour leader Lucy Powell and former transport secretary Louise Haigh.
Those close to the Health Secretary view Downing Street’s attempt to disown briefings against Streeting with incredulity. “They cannot pretend that this hasn’t happened. No 10 need to show that they’re ending that culture,” says a Streeting ally. “The problem for Keir is that if they don’t do that then it stops looking like something that is happening behind his back, and looks like something that is happening under his nose but that he is not bothered about. And that is going to be even more damaging for him.”
This is why a growing number inside government believe Starmer could be forced to sacrifice McSweeney. Regardless of where ultimate responsibility for the briefings is deemed to lie, the perception that the chief of staff bears the blame is too damaging to ignore.
McSweeney still has his allies. “He’s a brilliant strategist and someone who understands Labour through and through,” says one senior No 10 aide. “He is the person pushing through things like investment in jobs, pride in place and border security. He always picks up his phone to any colleague at any time and is endlessly respectful and supportive.”
But in recent months his position has become increasingly vulnerable. The sacking of Mandelson and the resignation of former No 10 strategy director Paul Ovenden deprived McSweeney of two of his closest political confidants. Labour’s recurrent crises and record unpopularity have seen criticism of him spread from the soft left to a broader swathe of the party. And the relationship between Starmer and McSweeney, often notably transactional, has grown more distant with the arrival of new aides in No 10 such as Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the Prime Minister, and Tim Allan, the executive director of communications.
At yesterday’s PMQs, when challenged by an increasingly assertive Kemi Badenoch, Starmer failed to express full confidence in McSweeney. This omission, which further imperilled the latter, was remedied at the No 10 briefing that followed. Starmer subsequently rejected implicit demands from MPs at a Parliamentary Labour Party committee meeting for him to sack McSweeney.
But the Prime Minister, who insiders note has form for going back on his word, has never faced greater pressure to sever the alliance that has defined Labour politics for six years. Faced with repeated calls for her resignation, Rachel Reeves – the other member of the government’s ruling triumvirate – can deploy the bond markets as her ally of last resort. The question for McSweeney is whether any overriding defence is available to him.
This piece first appeared in the Morning Call newsletter; receive it every morning by subscribing on Substack here
[Further reading: Inside Labour’s briefing fiasco: “Morgan has lost the plot”]
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