Morgan McSweeney, Keir Starmer's former chief of staff, has conceded that Labour failed to adequately prepare for government before winning the 2024 general election. In his first media interview, McSweeney said the party had not given enough thought to how the world had changed since Labour was last in office.
Lack of Preparation for a Changed World
McSweeney told the BBC: "We didn't prepare enough for what kind of world we were going to. We are now in a very different era than when Labour was last in government." He added that there were not enough conversations at the top of the party about what that meant or how to prepare for it. "You have to deliver quite quickly for people, for them to see the change quickly. And I think we didn't come in with enough of a theory about how we would do that," he said.
McSweeney, who quit earlier this year over his role in Peter Mandelson's appointment as the UK's ambassador to the US, said he was "still processing" Starmer's political demise but identified a lack of preparation as a key factor in the government's early troubles. He noted that Labour's time in opposition "went quickly."
Expectations of Defeat Rather Than Victory
The former aide revealed that after Labour's crushing defeat in 2019, there was a widespread expectation that the party would require at least two elections to return to power. "Quite a lot of people" thought Labour needed a plan for defeat rather than victory in 2024. During planning meetings in early 2024, McSweeney said he "did start to realise that we hadn't done enough to prepare for government." He argued Labour should have been "way more optimistic when we started."
Mistakes in Government: Winter Fuel Payments and Freebies
McSweeney admitted that an early decision to remove winter fuel payments from millions of pensioners—a policy on which Labour later U-turned—had been a mistake and had "defined the government in a way that did us a lot of damage." He said it was not a mistake to means-test the payments so that better-off pensioners did not receive them, but the threshold for claiming them had been set at "too low a level."
He also acknowledged that the party was damaged by an early row over freebies given to ministers by donors. Starmer himself had accepted thousands of pounds' worth of clothing and spectacles while in opposition.
Support for Andy Burnham and Reflections on Preparation
McSweeney expressed support for Andy Burnham, Starmer's expected successor, saying: "I feel optimistic about it." He also reflected on the role of Sue Gray, who was appointed as chief of staff before the election to lead preparations for government. McSweeney said it was "not about one individual," adding: "When I say we weren't prepared, I really do mean the Labour Party more generally. I take my own responsibilities for that, rather than blaming one person."
