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Keir Starmer’s government is evolving. In recent weeks, a venerable succession of Tony Blair-era advisers have been marched back into the halls of power by a prime minister in search of tested and attested operators.
Jonathan Powell, appointed national security adviser on Friday, was the only senior adviser to last the whole of Blair’s time in No 10 as the ex-PM’s chief of staff from 1997-2007.
More recently and controversially, Powell was the government envoy who negotiated the future of the Chagos Islands, which resulted in the handover of the territory to Mauritius. Predictably then, Conservative politicians greeted Powell’s appointment as national security adviser with a level of combustive indignation we have come to expect from the party — which is taking to opposition increasingly irascibly.
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Powell’s return, of course, was announced mere days after a more extensively covered political comeback. In this regard, a central priority of his early tenure will be to map out the implications of Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Defence secretary John Healey insisted today that he expects the US to back Ukraine for “as long as it takes”; but Powell will be rehearsing Britain’s responses to all manner of Trump-triggered eventualities — including the very real prospect that US support begins to diminish.
Powell, reportedly appointed on the recommendation of fellow New Labour doyen Peter Mandelson, is the most notable Blairite returnee. But alongside Powell arrives Liz Lloyd, Blair’s onetime deputy chief of staff, as director of policy delivery and innovation in No 10.
Alan Milburn, former health secretary, is another senior New Labour figure returning to the fold. It was confirmed on Saturday that Milburn will serve as the lead non-executive director of the Department of Health and Social Care, newly bolstered by a significant settlement from the Treasury.
And back in September, it was announced that Sir Michael Barber — head of Blair’s revered Delivery Unit from 2001-2005 — will support the PM to drive forward Labour’s five national missions as his “adviser on effective delivery”. Meanwhile, three New Labour ministers — Peter Mandelson, David Miliband and Cathy Ashton — are reported by The Guardian to be on a shortlist to become the UK’s next ambassador to the US.
That Powell, Lloyd, Milburn and Barber occupy posts of such supreme significance to the direction of Starmer’s administration reflects a clear reasoning. After all, notwithstanding the clichés that Labour spokespeople deployed to describe Starmer’s ambition during the election campaign, the party has not so much “hit the ground running” in government as it has hit the ground. But following Sue Gray’s ejection as No 10 chief of staff, the prime minister has been working, slowly but intently, to return a sense of strategic coordination to Labour.
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One way of viewing Gray’s resignation was as the climax of a venomous power struggle between the PM’s onetime closest confidant and her successor, Morgan McSweeney. But the deeper truth is that she failed Starmer on her own terms and in her primary task of preparing Labour for government.
As John Rentoul, The Independent’s chief political commentator, recalled over the weekend, the defining quote of Labour’s Gray debacle was as follows: “If you ever see any evidence of our preparations for government, please let me know.” (That came via an anonymous Labour adviser.)
It was a sentiment that Starmer tacitly endorsed when Gray was deposed last month. But more significantly: it is a characterisation that his recent appointments are intended to, in time, render immaterial.
Labour has made political missteps since entering government. McSweeney, the party’s savviest strategic mind, was seen as an integral part of the solution. But he was only ever a partial fix. In lieu of any extensive preparatory work, Starmer has opted to infuse his government with experience — individuals who he trusts to operate the levers of Whitehall competently and confidently.
Starmer’s “ruthlessness” (a description conservative commentators have learnt to despise) does not only manifest with sackings or forced resignations. It is visible too in his concerted elevation of experienced figures at the expense, logically, of new Labour (small ‘n’) talent.
It would be wrong, therefore, to characterise these appointments in a narrow ideological frame. The returns of Powell, Lloyd, Milburn and Barber do not symbolise the resurrection of an old political consensus. Indeed, Labour’s first budget in over fourteen years renounced the triangulatory pragmatism that defined Blair’s premiership. This is a government staffed, increasingly, by Blairites — but it is not a Blairite government.
In October, I wrote that “Gray’s ejection won’t in and of itself correct Labour’s early missteps. But it was surely necessary to create some space so a new, more overtly political operation might.” Now we know what that new operation looks like: that is, rather a lot like the old operation. But it is one Starmer trusts will work — on the evidence of his reading of recent Labour history.
That Starmer values experience and expertise, especially of the Blairite kind, is not novel information. His government is replete with impenitent sons and daughters of the New Labour era like Pat McFadden, Liz Kendall, Peter Kyle, Douglas Alexander, Hilary Benn and Jacqui Smith. But this feature of Starmer’s politics also explains Ed Miliband’s sustained presence at the head of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero — the success of which could well dictate the fate of his government.
Still, Starmer’s decision to lean on his instinctive trust of experience and expertise, at a fork in the road for his government politically and strategically, is telling. It’s less a reset — and more a return to first Starmerite principles.
In his book How To Run A Government, Sir Michael Barber argues that the formula for successful governance is as follows: “Policy is 10% and implementation 90%.” In recent weeks, Starmer has appointed individuals (like Sir Michael), whom he sees as trusted implementers — administrators that can lubricate the often stubborn cogs of Whitehall and generate policy advances.
In the end, that is the government’s chosen recipe for political success — and ultimately re-election.
Lunchtime briefing
Trump and US will back Ukraine for ‘as long as it takes’, defence secretary insists
Lunchtime soundbite
‘The leaders started by discussing the situation in Ukraine, including how best to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position going into the winter.’
— Emmanuel Macron and Keir Starmer discussed “how best to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position going into the winter” when they met for talks at the Elysee Palace in Paris this morning, according to a readout of the discussion.
Now try this…
‘The Return of the Blairites: Why Keir Starmer should tap into Labour’s past’
The prime minister may not be New Labour by instinct, but he has proved to be ruthless – and willing to learn from his party’s past success, The Independent’s John Rentoul writes.
‘My assisted dying bill will have the strictest safeguards in the world’
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater writes for The House magazine.
‘Say sorry to Trump, ally tells UK’s David Lammy’
Politico reports.
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