Sir Keir Starmer must “get a grip” to bolster his Downing Street operation and end infighting within the government, cabinet ministers are urging, as faultlines emerge in the prime minister’s administration.
The run-up to Labour’s first party conference since winning power has been dogged by disputes over Starmer and his colleagues accepting freebies, a damaging leak of chief of staff Sue Gray’s pay level and reports of dismal morale among aides.
A daily drumbeat of negative headlines has left the government facing accusations of poor preparedness for office and a lack of political deftness, just as it tries to convince global investors it can fix the problems facing the UK.
One cabinet minister said Starmer needed to “create a moment” to shut down fighting between rival factions and set out how he wanted to run Number 10. “Keir has to get a grip.”
The minister added: “He never resolved in opposition who’s in charge, who has his voice,” urging the prime minister to beef up his team with extra hires, as well as clarifying the hierarchy.
They added that Starmer needed to immerse himself more deeply in major political decisions, including on spending, rather than devolving decisions about money to Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, and Darren Jones, the Treasury chief secretary.
“He must play a role in the big political choices,” the frontbencher said.
While he is often framed as a managerial technocrat rather than a political ideologue, it is Starmer’s management skills that have come under scrutiny since he entered No 10.
As the prime minister prepares to address conference on Tuesday, senior frontbenchers and aides are concerned that the issues bedevilling him this month are symptomatic of deeper problems at the heart of government.
The revelation about Gray’s pay — resulting from leaks at the heart of Downing Street — has laid bare the extent of ill-feeling among advisers inside the government, who feel “insulted” with “offensively low” salary offers.
“It’s going to get worse. Now people are talking and comparing pay,” said one aide, adding that wrangling over personal contracts was a waste of time and emotion when advisers wanted to focus on government matters.
Some of the issues appear to be self-inflicted. Another aide said a failure to hire enough advisers quickly enough meant that many staffers were overstretched ahead of the spending review, which will set the fiscal contours for the government. “We just don’t have the firepower,” they said.
Ministers report the same problem. One said that some teams were underpowered and secretaries of state had been left “floundering” with insufficient support as they sought to manage crises and undertake negotiations with the Treasury.
Angst is not universal across the cabinet. One senior minister insisted it was normal for any new administration to encounter “bumps in the road” and expressed confidence that the machine’s operation would improve.
Several also leapt to the defence of Gray as a talented and devoted chief of staff. Deputy prime minister and housing secretary Angela Rayner said attempts to “demonise” the chief of staff made her “angry” given what an “incredible” job she had been doing.
But another warned of a lasting blow to Starmer’s reputation over his decision to accept £16,200 in clothes from party donor Lord Waheed Alli. “It will have damaged the perception of him,” the frontbencher said.
The furore also marked a failure to spot and respond to an issue that would play badly with the public. By Friday afternoon last week, after a string of revelations, it was announced that Starmer, Reeves and Rayner would no longer accept clothing donations.
Ministers have questioned why Labour did not just give senior ministers a clothing allowance funded by the party rather than rich individuals.
“The idea of Labour ministers taking free clothing is disgusting; it looks like we’re the same as the Tories. I don’t know what they were thinking. I have been genuinely shocked,” said one trade union leader.
Questions have also arisen about the pace of action inside the government, including the race to fill vital roles. Starmer has yet to appoint an investment minister and has reopened applications for his national security adviser after cancelling Rishi Sunak’s candidate for the job.
The prime minister is set to choose a new cabinet secretary, with mandarins expecting a job advert to go live within weeks ahead of incumbent Simon Case’s anticipated departure at the start of 2025, and he also needs to appoint a fresh principal private secretary.
Alex Thomas, programme director at the Institute for Government, said the “limbo” affecting those civil servants who worked most closely with the prime minister and helped him to run the government was creating an “authority gap” that Starmer urgently needed to fix.
Question marks remain over a range of appointments outside Downing Street that are raising eyebrows within the business sector, including the head of the reprised industrial strategy council and several key regulators.
One Starmer ally insisted that the timing of the annual party conference, as a series of negative stories engulfed the government, was useful for the prime minister to provide a “reset”.
Some of his allies say his key challenge is to improve his messaging, which has been confused by talking about “five missions” for government.
“We could do with one clear mission. We need a long-term economic plan, and a clear dividing line with the Tories,” said one newly elected Labour MP.
“Gray’s inexperience in party politics, together with Starmer’s background as a public servant rather than a party animal, has exposed a lack of political judgment at Number 10,” said Mujtaba Rahman, head of Europe for Eurasia Group.
“Starmer will need to learn from his government’s early mistakes and cut out the unforced errors.”