Who's Who At The Top Of Labour?

Replacing Sue Gray with Morgan McSweeney will have been a painful decision for Keir Starmer. The Prime Minister has known Gray longer than McSweeney, valued her knowledge of Whitehall and hated the briefing against her. She embodied Starmer’s desired emphasis on delivery in government.

But with so many in No 10 concluding that she was acting as “a massive bottleneck”, as one insider put it, the former civil servant had to go. No 10 staff say the atmosphere has improved since Gray’s departure and appointments that were being blocked – for example, it is claimed, Shabana Mahmood’s hiring of Sophie Linden from City Hall – have been able to go ahead.

In many ways the operation has reverted to Labour’s winning General Election campaign set-up, No 10 and Labour sources point out, with almost all of the same people back in the same positions. They say it is once again a team characterised by trust and easy communication; they are used to going into battle together, having worked alongside each other for several years, with a shared history as Labour activists. “You can’t hire for that,” a source remarks.

“It’s better to have one plan than two plans” is how one No 10 source sums up the reshuffle. “You’ve ended up with a lot of round pegs in round holes,” says a Labour source, who is highly critical of Gray: “She wanted to be in charge of everything and you physically can’t.”

Some believe Gray was treated poorly by the ‘boys club’ in Downing Street. The boys and girls of No 10 are adamant that these accusations are far off the mark and even actively misogynist as they undervalue the roles played by women, such as Jill Cuthbertson and Vidhya Alakeson, both now deputy chiefs of staff.

Whether defenders or critics of Gray were in the right (a mix of both being perhaps most likely), the pressure is now on for McSweeney who has not worked in government before. His political approach to running No 10 must work.

As one senior Labour source said just before the General Election result came through: “We’re going to need to govern as insurgents. You cannot be sucked into becoming the blob.” Now is the best opportunity to put that theory into practice.

Morgan McSweeney – chief of staff

The softly spoken, red-haired Irishman, 47, is the architect of the ‘Starmer Project’. He has been at Keir Starmer’s side since the start of 2020 after a lifetime of political organising in Labour, which means he can offer the deep understanding of the party that the Prime Minister lacks.

In the 2000s Morgan McSweeney helped turn around the party’s fortunes in Lambeth alongside Steve Reed (now Environment Secretary), then aided Margaret Hodge and Jon Cruddas in challenging the BNP in Barking and Dagenham.

After a long stint at the Local Government Association, he became director of Labour Together, which was originally presented as a non-factional endeavour. Contrary to how it is widely reported now, the organisation was not run as an openly anti-Corbyn or pro-Starmer one until after the 2020 leadership contest. Nonetheless, during the Corbyn era McSweeney was in close contact with Labour MPs organising to avoid deselection and kept a watchful eye on those disaffected within the party. He did extensive work at this time delving deep into the views of Labour members who had been mischaracterised in the press as diehard Corbynite radicals.

McSweeney left Labour Together after his research led him to conclude that Starmer was the factionally flexible MP best suited to securing the votes of Corbynite Labour members while maintaining support from the right and middle of the party. The strategist then devised both the campaign that won Starmer the Labour leadership and the one that got him the keys to No 10.

 

Hard-working and polite, he is hugely admired by many colleagues – ‘McSweeneyites’ – who say the chief of staff is respectful and inspires them to do good work. He is not infallible – the 2021 Hartlepool by-election defeat and ensuing internal chaos happened during his first stint as Starmer’s chief of staff – but has been at the fore of Starmer’s biggest successes. He is regarded as clever and easy to work with.

McSweeney is married to Imogen Walker, a former actor who became a Scottish Labour MP in July and serves as PPS to Rachel Reeves.

Jill Cuthbertson – deputy chief of staff

In a move that shows McSweeney is willing to disperse power at the top to improve productivity, his promotion to chief of staff came with the appointment of two female deputies. One is Jill Cuthbertson, who insiders reckon will have a more operational role while fellow deputy Vidhya Alakeson has a more political one.

Described by colleagues as a “safe pair of hands” who is “solid and reliable”, Cuthbertson is well-liked in No 10 and admired as someone who knows where others have gone wrong before and can spot the pitfalls. She was head of scheduling when Ed Miliband was Labour leader and previously worked for Gordon Brown.

Cuthbertson was a gatekeeper to Starmer as director of his office in opposition, overseeing events and visits; she is known to have pulled visits during the election campaign because she did not deem them high-quality enough. From July she served as director of government relations.

“She’s one of the most effective operators I’ve ever worked with,” says a colleague. Sources say she is an authoritative figure and highly trusted by the PM.

Vidhya Alakeson – deputy chief of staff

Vidhya Alakeson, 48, was director of external relations before her promotion as McSweeney’s deputy. Before working for Labour, she was the founding chief executive of Power to Change, an independent trust investing in community businesses. She is interested in communitarianism and the politics of place – something she has in common with McSweeney.

Alakeson was previously deputy chief executive of the Resolution Foundation and a board member at More in Common. An Oxford graduate in modern languages, she has worked in roles related to mental health, both in DC at the US Department of Health and in the NHS, and was a senior policy adviser at the Treasury in 2005. She received an OBE for services to social equality in 2021.

A former colleague described her as “a doer and ambitious for the country”, adding: “She is relational, and I think this will be critical for what the operation needs.”

Politics

Paul Ovenden – head of political strategy

Straight-talking and friendly, former Sunday Telegraph journalist Paul Ovenden is popular with lobby hacks because he knows they simply want news to break and stories to tell. This understanding came in handy during his four years working for Starmer in opposition as comms director and later head of attack and rebuttal. He has now replaced McSweeney as head of political strategy.

After working at the NSPCC and at Sky Sports, Ovenden was a Labour press officer from 2014 until he left for the duration of the Corbyn era. He worked at iNHouse Communications and M&C Saatchi before returning to the party. His partner is Kate Forrester, a former PoliticsHome and HuffPost journalist who advised now-minister Jim McMahon at one time.

Claire Reynolds – political director

Replacing Vidhya Alakeson as political director of No 10 is Claire Reynolds, the well-liked Labour Women’s Network director who has been admired within the party for her work on behalf of women. At LWN, where she was national officer from 2018 and later director, Reynolds pushed the party to adopt a wholly independent system for sexual harassment complaints. She has been a candidate, a councillor, an organiser, a parliamentary aide, and worked in No 10 before under New Labour. Reynolds describes herself as a feminist and, like her husband Jonathan, the Business Secretary, a Christian.

The political team also includes spads in charge of: party relations, ie managing the parliamentary party; trade union relations, for which they have made a hire from Unison; and local government and devolution, the director of which knows McSweeney from their Lambeth days and likewise comes from the Local Government Association.

Policy

Stuart Ingham – director of policy

Described as cerebral and softly spoken, Stuart Ingham taught politics at Oxford and worked for then Labour MP Lyn Brown before joining Starmer’s team as a senior researcher back in 2016. He was head of policy during the leadership campaign – which featured the 10 pledges, many of which have since been ditched – and was deputy director of policy in the leader’s office in opposition. His partner is Jess Leigh, a spad in the Home Office.

Ravinder Athwal

Cambridge economics graduate Rav Athwal has made the journey from head of growth strategy at the Treasury to Labour’s director of policy, and now to No 10 as a spad. He was in charge of putting together the party’s 2024 manifesto, which went through Labour’s national policy forum. Athwal’s relationship with Labour-affiliated trade unions is somewhat strained following the bruising policy-making process, but he is described by others as “considered” and was thought to have done a good job on the finely balanced manifesto.

The team also includes spads who specialise in particular policy areas, from economics, to health and care, to climate. (For the latter, No 10 has nabbed two senior people from left-wing think tank IPPR.)

Comms

Matthew Doyle – director of communications

Matthew Doyle, 49, joined as Labour’s comms director in 2021 after the post-Hartlepool departure of Starmer ally Ben Nunn (who has since returned as comms director to Rachel Reeves). Doyle can be a prickly character, but his experience is valued by colleagues: after advising David (now Lord) Blunkett as work and pensions secretary in the last Labour government, he was a No 10 spad. He then followed Tony Blair out of government to be his political director and spokesperson, overseeing the work of his charities. Doyle returned to the party after a stint at David Miliband’s International Rescue Committee and establishing a consultancy business.

Steph Driver – deputy director of communications

After starting as a researcher for Sir Lindsay Hoyle before he was Commons Speaker, Driver did more than eight years at the Labour Party in various media roles. Unlike some of her colleagues, she did not leave when Jeremy Corbyn became leader, staying until March 2019. She did other comms work before returning to Labour, where since 2021 she has handled Starmer’s personal comms and always been by his side on trips. Driver describes herself as “raising two mini humans and trying to have it all”.

James Lyons – director of strategic communications

TikTok comms chief James Lyons is well-known by lobby veterans because he was one himself, having worked for many years as deputy political editor at The Mirror and The Sunday Times before leaving to join the NHS in 2017. The hope is that all this experience as a two-way player will mean Lyons can ensure the government thinks about the medium to long term, rather than just firefighting every day.

Although he has not yet started the job, some insiders are already predicting there will be a power struggle between him and Doyle. Who is more senior? One insider predicts, however, that McSweeney will “not let that stuff fester” if it arises and fortunately has the necessary authority to stamp it out – along with Pat McFadden, who is pulled in for these things, sources say.

 

Sophie Nazemi – press secretary

Almost certainly the only person in No 10 who began their political career as a Corbynite, Sophie Nazemi was first a young Momentum press officer. She then worked her way up from Labour press officer under Corbyn to the party’s director of comms under Starmer, and was brought over to No 10 after the election. Nazemi is engaged to James Schneider, who co-founded Momentum and last year protested outside a Starmer speech on the Middle East. Despite her left-wing start and personal links, Nazemi – aged just 29 – is trusted by colleagues thanks to her strong work ethic.

Alan Lockey – chief speechwriter

A former Labour MP aide – he worked for Tristram Hunt when he was shadow education secretary – Alan Lockey was previously research director at think tank Demos, then head of the future work programme at the Royal Society of Arts. He was appointed as Starmer’s primary speechwriter just over two years ago, after writing think pieces on how the Labour leader could improve his pitch to the country. Just ahead of the 2021 Labour conference, he wrote a blog post specifically on how Starmer’s team should approach writing his keynote speech – which turned out to be a successful job application exercise. Lockey is known as talented and an intellectual.

Others brought over from the party to No 10 include a head of print media who worked in government comms under the Tories before becoming Labour’s regional media manager last year; a head of broadcast; and a media spad who worked at iNHouse Communications (like Ovenden) before joining Starmer’s team as a press officer in opposition.

Digital

Tom Lillywhite – director of digital

Tom Lillywhite, 38, is one of the Camden crew. He got to know Keir Starmer as vice-chair of their local party, Holborn and St Pancras, and has worked on digital for him since before his leadership days. Formerly the lead singer-guitarist of a reasonably successful band called Sons and Lovers, his expertise is in digital advertising and he set up his own digital agency, Wilder, before working for the party.

As head of digital in Labour HQ, he was credited with transforming the party’s digital operations in opposition. His ethos is using digital comms to speak directly to people in the real world rather than just addressing Westminster in the hope the information will trickle down.

He has overall responsibility for digital strategy and works with another No 10 spad who does day-to-day digital. While other digital party staff have left to work for new spinout company 411, Abby Tomlinson of ‘Milifandom’ fame has stepped up to run Labour’s digital campaigns team.

Labour HQ

Over at Labour headquarters, Joe Dancey – Wes Streeting’s partner, a lobbyist and former aide to Labour politicians who stood as a candidate in July – has become Labour’s executive director of policy and communications. This is a new role created because the party decided to streamline its HQ after entering government.

There are a number of job vacancies that will allow new general secretary Hollie Ridley to reshape the organisation with early hires. Posts yet to fill at the time of writing include the director of field (Ridley’s old job) and senior director of nations and regions (vacated by Teddy Ryan, Ridley’s husband). Rachael McCaffrey, Labour’s director of fundraising who worked closely with Lord Alli and was praised for increasing funds for the party’s election campaign, is leaving her post. Labour’s chief operating officer (COO), the well-liked and highly regarded John Lehal, is also leaving at the end of the year.

Elsewhere, Welsh Labour has just hired a new general secretary, Joe Lock, but Scottish Labour still needs to do so as incumbent John Paul McHugh is quitting to pursue new challenges following the general election successes.

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