Is the Labour party having an ideological crisis?
The Politics Show
The New Statesman
4.2 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 11 February 2026
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Morgan McSweeney – Keir Starmer’s closest aide and confidante – has left the Number 10 operation.
Our editor-in-chief Tom McTague asks, is it the beginning of the end for the Prime Minister – or the end of the beginning?
He speaks to deputy editor Will Lloyd.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The New Statesman |
| 0:02.0 | Morgan McSweeney, Kirstarmes' closest aide and confident, left number 10 over the weekend. |
| 0:11.0 | In this week's issue of The New Statesman, our editor has written a sweeping political obituary for the former Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister. |
| 0:21.6 | I'm Will Lloyd and you're listening to Daily Politics from the New Statesman. |
| 0:25.6 | Tom joins me now in the studio. Hello. |
| 0:27.6 | Hello. |
| 0:28.6 | What did Morgan McSweeney give to Kirstama? |
| 0:33.6 | What did Kirstama see in him and what did Morgan McSweeney see in Kirstama? |
| 0:42.4 | I think on the first question, what did Morgan McSweeney give to Kirstama? |
| 0:45.3 | The answer is sort of almost everything, right? |
| 0:46.5 | Almost everything. |
| 0:56.5 | He is crucial to the rise of Kirstama from the Cabinet, where he served under Jeremy Corbyn, |
| 1:00.6 | into the Labour leadership and from there into the premiership. |
| 1:06.9 | And he is not just responsible for that rise, alongside Keir Starma, obviously. |
| 1:15.1 | He is responsible for the bare bones of Starmerism, if such a thing exists. |
| 1:16.7 | And I think that gets a part of the problem. |
| 1:19.0 | Such a thing probably doesn't exist. |
| 1:20.7 | It's probably more McSweeneyism. |
| 1:29.0 | And that is, that lies at the heart of this story of Morgan McSweeney's importance of Kea Stama's problems, |
| 1:36.5 | that Morgan McSweeney gave so much to Kea Stama that we almost lost sight of Kea Stama himself. |
| 1:43.6 | I think that people have tried to create a conflict between what McSweeney believes and what Stama actually believes. |
| 1:45.9 | So McSweeney is characterized as this kind of blue labor, almost like white van labor man. And Starma is actually believed by some people in |
... |
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