Will Starmer’s No.10 reset work?

Coffee House Shots

The Spectator

Daily News, News, Politics

4.4 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 7 October 2024

⏱️ 15 minutes

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Summary

Who’s in charge in Downing Street? Until recently, the answer to that question would tend to reveal whether you were a Sue Gray or Morgan McSweeney supporter. Keir Starmer’s two most senior aides were viewed to be in a power struggle over the direction of the government. But with Gray's resignation this weekend, it is McSweeney who is running the show. What direction will he take No.10?

James Heale speaks to Katy Balls and John McTernan, former political secretary to Tony Blair.

Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The Spectator magazine is home to wonderful writing, insightful analysis and unrivaled books and arts reviews.
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0:11.4	along with a free 20 pound John Lewis or waitress voucher go to
0:15.2	spectator.co. UK forward slash voucher.
0:20.3	Hello welcome to coffee house shots I'm James Heel and I'm joined today by the
0:25.2	Spectators political and editor Katie Bulls and John McTernan Tony Blair's former
0:29.2	political secretary. Now John it's been a quiet weekend for the government in which Downing Street Chief Staff Sue Gray left on day 94 of the new administration.
0:38.0	Talk us through why this happened now and some of the changes that happened, most notably Gray herself being replaced by Morgan
0:44.6	McSweeny.
0:45.6	It's happened now because it's a brutal truth that when the star for becomes a story, they have to go.
0:51.3	Happy with Alster Campbell in the Blair era. It happened to
0:56.4	Dominic Cummings in the Johnson era. Fiota Hill, Nick Timothy, they had to stand down
1:00.7	and when they were working for Theresa May.
1:02.8	They were made to carry the can for the election.
1:04.9	There's all kinds of reasons why it's difficult to be chief of staff.
1:10.8	It seems to be a much more pressure job nowadays. but one of the ones is you're in the public eye and people talk about you don't have the right to reply. So I think to move the government on at the end of its first hundred days days it was necessary to kind of break the
1:24.4	cycle of stories which it got to the point where every story generated another
1:28.6	story became a genre almost. What's happened? More who ex-W win in Scotland, the incredible, the efficient majority of the landslide across the country.
1:46.6	He has gone from being one of the two senior advisors to Kiest Arbor, to being the senior advisor, the chief of staff.
1:55.0	It's a big promotion for him and it puts politics at the heart at the center of the government.
2:00.0	And I think that's probably the key to understanding the last 100 days and the next four years
2:06.0	is Labour won with a ruthlessly efficient political machine and it's going to win the next
	...

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