The last week has seen an almost complete reset of Starmer’s cabinet, with few escaping unscathed. What began on Monday as a relatively minor reshuffle between the Treasury and Number 10 has rapidly snowballed into a full-on reorganisation of his ministerial team, both junior and senior, in the wake of Rayner’s much lamented departure.
But what have the key moves been, and which ministers have done well out of this, and which not so much?
The Cabinet
The winners
David Lammy has moved to up fill Rayner’s place as Deputy Prime Minister after Rayner’s resignation, becoming the first Black Brit to hold the role.
Replacing Lammy at the Foreign Office is Yvette Cooper, who has moved from the Home Office, while Shabana Mahmood has taken over Cooper’s former brief. Along with Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who remains unmoved, this reshuffle is the first time that all three great offices of state have been held by a woman at the same time. Now for Labour to elect its first female leader to complete the set.
Pat McFadden will become Minister of a newly created “super ministry”, that will combine the Department of Work and Pensions and the skills remit that has been removed from the Department for Education.
Darren Jones has had a particularly big week – on Monday he took on the newly-created role of Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, and by Saturday had also become Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
Ed Miliband, Lisa Nandy and Wes Streeting remain in their posts as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change and Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and Health Secretary respectively, alongside Rachel Reeves as Chancellor.
The losers
Firstly, the person that kicked this major reshuffle off – Angela Rayner. Her fall has been swift and sharp, but definitely memorable. We’ll have to wait and see if she’ll be back in future. In Keir Starmer’s response to her resignation letter he stated that Rayner would “remain a major figure in our party”.
Bridget Phillipson has been shunned to an extent by this reshuffle – she remains as Education Secretary, but has lost the skills part of her brief as Pat McFadden takes it under the wing of his new “super ministry.”
Ian Murray has lost his post as Scotland Secretary, despite serving as Labour’s only MP in Scotland from 2015-2017 and 2019-2023. He has been replaced by former New Labour insider and fellow Scot Douglas Alexander.
Lucy Powell is another loser, having lost her position as leader of the House of Commons to Alan Campbell, who served as a government whip under Blair.
Junior ministers
The winners
Jacqui Smith is yet another New Labour insider that has been promoted in this reshuffle, and she will now serve as skills minister in the Department for Work and Pensions, alongside her previous role as skills and women and equalities minister in the Department for Education.
Georgia Gould, daughter of key New Labour architect Philip Gould, has become a minister in the Department for Education.
Another interesting junior ministerial appointment is that of Jason Stockwood, co-owner of Grimsby Town football club, who has been given a peerage so he can take the role of investment minister.
The losers
Jim McMahon, Daniel Zeichner and Justin Madders have all lost their junior ministerial roles, as local government minister, food security and rural affairs minister and parliamentary under-secretary of state for employment rights, competition and markets respectively.
Poppy Gustaffson, minister of state of investment has also resigned from the government, although this is reported to be so she can spend more time with her young family.
Key takeaways
This has been a big reshuffle, reflecting Keir Starmer’s desire to make big changes to his government – as he put it on Monday, he is keen now move into “phase two” of his premiership. From the scale of the reshuffle it’s also clear that this has been long in the planning – Rayner’s sudden departure was simply the straw that broke the camel’s back. That and a desire to overshadow Reform’s conference in Birmingham.
This reshuffle is also a continuation of a now common theme in Starmer’s government – New Labour returns. Just earlier this week he appointed former Blair adviser Tim Allan as a new executive Director of Communications in Downing Street. In this reshuffle Starmer has now promoted former New Labour figures Douglas Alexander, Jacqui Smith, Pat McFadden and Alan Campbell, as well as Georgia Gould, daughter of New Labour adviser Philip Gould. As Starmer’s poll ratings continue to nosedive, he is increasingly attempting to reach back to and emulate the success of New Labour.
Rayner’s departure also leaves open the question of the Labour deputy leadership. The post is elected by the party, meaning a contest will commence soon – the exact timeline will be decided by the party’s national executive committee, which is due to meet on Monday. At current there is no clear front-runner for the position, but the allure of the position is sure to draw some out of the woodwork soon and into the race.
Featured image via HM Government
