Back in the spring, Labour sources were briefing that journalists in Westminster should expect a mini-reshuffle after the local elections in May. It would be, they suggested, an opportunity for Sir Keir Starmer to streamline some of the many job titles acquired by his deputy, Angela Rayner, and tinker with his top team to reflect the new government departments made by Rishi Sunak.
May came and went and no reshuffle was forthcoming. As summer dragged on, party insiders began to mutter and complain about the fact the leadership was allowing the threat of it to loom over them without offering up any clarity.
Sources complained that it was another example of Sir Keir being “indecisive” and some gossiped that the Labour leader was struggling to come up with a solution to the “Angela problem” of clarifying her election role without falling into the same trap as last time.
In May 2021, when he tried to demote Ms Rayner by removing her from the post of national campaign co-ordinator, he ended up being bounced into throwing other roles at her instead – shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and shadow Secretary of State for the Future of Work.
This time around his office were determined not to make the same mistake and laid the groundwork for weeks before the final decision was taken to move her to cover levelling up and housing – an area where it is felt she will be able to have the most impact.
Allies of the outgoing shadow levelling up secretary, Lisa Nandy, were suspicious for weeks that she would be ousted to make way for Ms Rayner – but the demotion to a role that does not even shadow a government department still came as a shock. They saw it as a continued purge of the soft left which the likes of shadow ministers Rosena Allin-Khan and Nick Thomas-Symonds also fell foul of.
The MP for Wigan is said to be unhappy with the considerable demotion – which leaves her now junior to David Lammy who replaced her as shadow Foreign Secretary just two years ago – but decided to stay in the fold rather than retreat to the backbenches like Ms Allin-Khan.
She has been accused, in the past, of being disloyal and discontented – but sources close to her strongly dispute this and point to the fact she accepted the demotion, rather than walking away, as a testament to her “team player” spirit.
Others also faced with a demotion have seen their roles morph into backroom election efforts in a sign that Sir Keir and his team are ensuring the party’s election machine is running smoothly.
Jonathan Ashworth was moved from shadow Work and Pensions Secretary to shadow Paymaster General, but sources close to him said he was “very happy” with the chance to be “minister for the Today programme’, fixer, election strategy, and leading on our prep for government work” in the run-up to the general election.
Mr Ashworth has a background as a political adviser under Gordon Brown, and sources close to him compared the move to that of Francis Maude, who held a similar position for David Cameron in run-up to 2010.
But figures on the left of the party are aghast that he has been replaced in the welfare brief by Liz Kendall – a right-winger of the Labour movement who has taken a harsher stance on issues such as child benefit caps. The decision indicates Sir Keir is not planning to back down on his resolute stance that he will not announce more generous welfare ahead of the next election.
Left-wing grassroots group Momentum complained the reshuffle amounted to “the promotion of a narrow band of Blairites unwilling to offer the decisive change the country is crying out for”.
However, the leadership has also taken strategic decisions around how it can best attack the Conservative record. Steve Reed, who was appointed shadow Environment Secretary, will be an attack dog and to go for the Tories on food inflation, sewage and food security.
Sources close to him said Sir Keir’s team sense a weakness in their opponents there, and also want to strengthen their standing with rural and coastal voters, who they see as a key part of their coalition at the next election.