Keir Starmer’s No 10 team has been under heavy attack in recent days, accused of creating a “toxic culture” after briefings against cabinet minister Wes Streeting backfired badly.
Labour MPs are in despair about the damaging episode – “the mood is f***ing dire” one told The i Paper – raising fresh doubts over Starmer’s future as Prime Minister.
But angst about the communication skills of Starmer’s advisors run far deeper, with backbenchers despondent over, what they see as, the Government’s failure to tell a coherent story to voters.
Former Downing Street officials and communications experts are also surprised by the weakness in the Government’s messaging.
It has been too slow to draw a line under mistakes, too feeble in letting Reform UK control the immigration narrative, and too ready to let positive policy announcements be drowned out by bad news, they claim.
There is disbelief that Labour ministers’ best defence for problems in prisons and the asylum system is to say they are “furious” about what they inherited – 18 months on from taking charge from the Tories.
Asked about No 10’s comms strategy, one Labour MP told The i Paper: “I didn’t know there was one.” Another said: “Can I just respond with a laughter emoji? Most Labour MPs have their heads in their hands at least once a week about the latest comms disaster.”
‘They’re lost when it comes to a coherent story’
There is also deep frustration with Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ after her apparent U-turn on the income tax rise in the Budget.
One Labour MP said the “mixed messages” meant it was impossible to tell their constituents who or what the Government stands for.
“We weren’t going to tax wealthy people, we were pro-growth. Now it’s about asking those with the broader shoulders to do more, but not doing it through banking or wealth tax – possibly taking money off slightly better off wage earners.”
Blaming No 10 and the Treasury, the MP added: “They’re lost when it comes to telling a coherent story. There’s no connecting thread. Blaming our predecessors doesn’t work anymore.”
Jon Gerlis, head of PR and policy at the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), said Reeves’ gloomy pre-Budget press conference was a good example of the seeming inability to inspire.
“There has been a failure to offer a message which gives any optimism,” he said. “People are desperate for light at the end of the tunnel.”
‘The buck stops with Starmer’
Andrew Fisher, Labour’s director of policy under Jeremy Corbyn, said that even with popular policies – such as taking railways into public ownership – “they haven’t told the story properly”.
There has been “a lack of confidence from No 10” on having “good” fights – like imposing VAT on private schools, Fisher added. And when it comes to asylum seekers and small boats, No 10’s defensiveness has “allowed” Reform UK to frame it as a crisis, he said.
However, Fisher sees Labour’s failures as chiefly down to the emptiness of the policy platform rather than presentation – blaming those at the very top.
“The buck stops with Keir Starmer and [No 10 chief of staff] Morgan McSweeney, and probably Rachel Reeves,” he said. “There was no vision, no plan. You can’t communicate something that isn’t there.”
Starmer himself appeared to blame polling woes on poor communications in June, admitting Labour “haven’t always told our story as well as we should”.
No 10’s comm director Matthew Doyle quit in March, only for his joint successors James Lyons and Steph Driver to exit in September.
Few see the appointment of new comms chief Tim Allen as an important reset, with several Labour MPs saying the “churn” in senior PR staff was sign of a deeper problem with Starmer.
“No comms can cover over or make up for what’s not there – a plan of any substance,” said one Labour backbencher.
“Morgan Sweeney deserves some of the blame,” they added. “We also have a Prime Minister and a Chancellor that can’t communicate with the public – it’s wince-inducing to listen to their speeches because they don’t talk like human beings.”
Briefings against Streeting ‘cack-handed over-reaction’
Guto Harri, the former No 10 comms director under Boris Johnson, told The i Paper that Doyle, Lyons and Allen were all “very capable people”.
He added: “If they can’t tell a coherent story, something is wrong with the basic material. You can’t polish a turd, and you can’t roll it in glitter.”
Harri said the problem “comes back to Keir” who “hasn’t articulated who he is, what’s he stands for, and what he wants to do. We have a dull, charisma-challenged, indecisive Prime Minister.”
The briefings against Streeting have proved to be a “comms catastrophe”, he added. “It was a cack-handed over-reaction. It brought credibility to the idea that Keir could be replaced.”
A fellow ex-Downing Street staffer, who also worked under the Tories, said the recent meltdown over Streeting showed that both the comms and political strategy were a “s***show”.
They said: “Keir Starmer keeps changing comms directors because he doesn’t set a clear political agenda for the country and is then disappointed when his comms people find it hard to tell a story that isn’t there.”
Another former No 10 official who worked under the last Government, praised the “bright tactics” of current comms staff – such as getting social media influencers into press conferences.“Undoubtedly there have been comms failures, but Starmer is the boss. And if the boss is s***, then the boss is s***. He got lucky because we [the Tories] were so terrible by the end.”
McSweeney ‘lacks political judgement’, say MPs
Labour MPs have mixed views on whether Starmer should replace McSweeney, his general election mastermind. Some think a new chief of staff would allow for a major reset in strategy. Others think it would only raise more doubts about Starmer’s future.
One senior Labour figure, a Starmer supporter who thinks he may need a new chief of staff, said: “The problem with Morgan McSweeney is that there’s a lack of political judgement there.
“The unforced errors with policies like winter fuel payment could have been avoided,” they added. “Starmer needs help. He is an able and intelligent administrator, but I’m not sure about his political instincts.”
While some Labour MPs still hope Starmer can learn lessons, some are already discussing who might oust him if the Budget lands badly.
“I think some MPs are waiting for Wes Streeting to make his move,” said the MP. “I don’t think Wes Streeting is convinced he can win the leadership yet. But the moment he is convinced, Starmer is toast.”
Fisher warned MPs desperate for a better communicator than Starmer to be careful what they wish for when it comes to the ambitious Health Secretary.
“Wes Streeting is a better media performer than most ministers, but he doesn’t seem to have any kind of different plan, not one he’s outlined anyway,” said the former Corbyn policy chief.
One Labour MP defended Starmer – urging colleagues to stay “united” and “realise that communicating the change we’re bringing is on all of us”.
PR guru Mark Borkowski said the great failing by Starmer and his team was they “never fully grasped the enormity of actually being in power”.
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He said their ultra-cautious approach in opposition meant they “no muscle memory for controlling the narrative” once they won. “Power abhors a vacuum, and they’ve left plenty.”
No 10 declined to comment. A Labour Party source said: “Fixing the mess five failed Tory Prime Ministers left behind will take time but we’re focussed on making working people better off and renewing our country after years of decline.
“There’ll be bumps along the way, but we’re focussed on delivering for the British people, not easy answers that have failed Britain in the past.”
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