Sue Gray has resigned as the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, saying she “risked becoming a distraction” after weeks of negative briefings against the top aide.
She will be replaced by Sir Keir Starmer‘s chief adviser, Morgan McSweeney.
Her departure for a new role as the Prime Minister’s envoy for the regions and nations follows reports of tensions in No 10 between her and Mr McSweeney, as well as with Cabinet Secretary Simon Case.
Controversy ensued after it was revealed that Ms Gray was paid £170,000 – higher than the salary of the Prime Minister – which sparked anger among Labour special advisers.
In the early days of the administration, there were also reports of a rift between Ms Gray and Mr McSweeney.
Ms Gray was also accused of keeping a tight grip over newly-appointed ministers’ political staff, known as special advisers – forcing Cabinet sources to rush to her defence – and of blocking certain security officials from briefing the Prime Minister. At the time, the allegations were denied by No 10.
In one allegation published by The Guardian, it was claimed that Ms Gray had moved Mr McSweeney’s desk further from the PM’s office. There had also been reports over a clash between how her Gray and Mr McSweeney’s respective teams were attempting to run Government.
For Mr McSweeney, the new role will further cement his status as the Prime Minister’s right-hand man and one of the most powerful people in No 10.
Although he stays well out of the spotlight, the soft-spoken Irishman is known in political circles as the mastermind behind Labour’s successful general election campaign.
Mr McSweeney, 47, was previously the campaign manager for the Labour Party and the former director of the think-tank Labour Together.
While he has been praised for putting Labour in power again, those on the left bemoan his efforts to wipe out Corbynism from the party.
Left-wing candidates and activists have been sidelined under Mr McSweeney’s watch, which saw his friends and allies parachuted into safe seats.
His wife, Imogen Walker, became the Labour MP for Hamilton and Clyde Valley after the July election.
Mr McSweeney has been compared to Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser, and Isaac Levido, the election strategist who helped propel the Conservatives to a landslide victory in 2019.
His early years of battling the far left
Born in Macroom, County Cork, he moved to London when he was 17 and worked on building sites before studying politics.
His earliest role for Labour was in the attack and rebuttal unit at the party’s headquarters during Tony Blair’s time as prime minister.
During the New Labour years, he worked under Lord Peter Mandelson, climbing the ranks to organise wins in marginal seats.
From Lord Mandelson he gained an appreciation for gaining control of the party machinery, which stood him in good stead in recent years.
In 2006, he became a campaign aide to Steve Reed – now Environment Secretary – who led Lambeth Council and wrestled control from a hard-left Labour leader who was a committed Trotskyist.
The pair sought to restore the party’s reputation and repair leadership failures that had led to high taxes, poorly-run services and the sexual abuse of children in the council’s care. A focus on seemingly mundane but important local issues, such as tackling fly-tipping and abandoned vehicles, combined with persistent leafleting proved to be a winning formula.
In another campaign in Dagenham, east London, he helped a Labour candidate defeat the British National Party with a focus on local issues, even as Gordon Brown lost the election at a national level.
He was not always successful: his work on Liz Kendall’s 2015 leadership bid led to an abysmal defeat. Ms Kendall, who is now Work and Pensions Secretary, secured only 4.5 per cent of the vote in the contest which saw Jeremy Corbyn become the party leader.
The formation of Labour Together
But he remained undeterred. In 2017, Mr McSweeney and Mr Reed formed Labour Together, a think-tank intended to fight Corbynism.
Mr McSweeney used the think-tank to convince Labour MPs to stay in the party under Mr Corbyn rather than leave, and wait for him to be defeated before fighting to retake control.
Labour Together grew into the power base behind Sir Keir leadership bid, and it is believed that the group had earmarked him as an heir to New Labour as early as 2015.
According to The Times, he allegedly received funding from former donors to Sir Tony and Ed Miliband to research party members, much of it undeclared.
He is said to have been appalled by the Corbyn era, including antisemitism allegations, and believed Mr Corbyn’s politics would doom the party to failure.
The research helped him identify three types of party members: committed leftists, idealists who wanted a more hopeful politics and disliked Tory austerity and Sir Tony’s foreign wars, and those who believed compromise was necessary to gain power.
It was the latter two groups that Mr McSweeney wooed when he ran Sir Keir’s leadership campaign after the 2019 election.
Sir Keir’s promise was to keep some policies from the Corbyn era, alongside a promise to bring the party to power.
His critics on the left argue that he deceived the party’s membership into voting for him, with 10 left-wing pledges that were binned after his win.
Among them were pledges that water and mail should be in public hands, free movement would be defended, income tax would be increased for the top 5 per cent of earners, and Tory cuts to corporation tax would be reversed.
Purging Corbynism
After Sir Keir became Labour leader in 2020, Mr McSweeney oversaw the removal of Corbyn supporters from every layer of power inside the party.
This extended from positions on the national executive committee to smaller committees and staff roles in the party’s headquarters.
He was behind changes to Labour’s selection process for parliamentary candidates, which was opposed by the trade union movement.
Under the system, the party’s headquarters kept control of the longlisting stage, which has led to Corbyn allies being largely blocked from becoming new MPs.
By contrast, five Labour Together staff or policy fellows became MPs in the most recent election.
His leadership style is considered to be a departure from his predecessors.
A party staffer told The Guardian he was softly spoken and approachable – unlike Labour special advisers in the 2000s who were known for expletive-laden outbursts.
He has been described as having a dark sense of humour. Before the 2023 local elections, as he unveiled target seats he reportedly told shadow cabinet advisers: “Every time you or your boss visits somewhere not on this list, a Labour councillor dies.”
But despite his popularity with Starmer allies, a power struggle with Sue Gray reportedly grew behind the scenes.
Before Ms Gray resigned, it had been reported that she had twice moved Mr McSweeney’s desk further away from the Prime Minister’s office. It was also reported that Simon Case, the Cabinet Secretary, had refused to approve Ms Gray’s request for Mr McSweeney to be denied access to a secure computer system unless he heard it from the Prime Minister himself.
No 10 and Whitehall officials have strenuously denied claims Mr McSweeney had been blocked from receiving security briefings.
It is unknown who leaked Ms Gray’s salary details – which showed she was paid more than the Prime Minister, and dominated headlines – but the negative press around her has helped pave the way for Mr McSweeney to assume her role.
A key question that remains is what he will do with the increased power as he cements his position at the heart of Starmer’s Government.
It has been rumoured that Mr McSweeney could try to force rule changes to prevent the membership from choosing another left-wing leader again – for instance, by only allowing MPs to vote.
Others say he will already be paving the way for a 2029 victory by focusing on delivering the policies that he played a hand in selecting for their popular appeal.
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