Labour was not prepared to govern in 2024, says Morgan McSweeney

PM’s former chief of staff opens up on political mistakes and shares Trump’s theories about wind turbines

Morgan McSweeney, the prime minister’s former chief of staff, has said Labour was not prepared enough for government or for the volatile world when Keir Starmer was first elected.

McSweeney, who had been Labour’s elections guru credited by many in the party for the size of their victory in 2024, said the party did not have an idea about how to make things happen quickly for people who wanted change.

The former No 10 aide, who quit in February because of his closeness to the decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as US ambassador, said he wanted to speak on the record for the first time because he now wanted to “move on to a new chapter” beyond Labour and UK politics.

He said he wanted to now go in a “completely different direction” professionally, with no plans to return to politics soon. “I mean, I can’t say forever, but certainly for the next few years I’m committing to being out of politics for at least the next few years ahead,” he said.

McSweeney also shared anecdotes from his time in No 10 – including that Donald Trump had complained about foxes getting obese from eating the birds felled by wind turbines. Speaking to the BBC’s Political Thinking with Nick Robinson podcast, he said: “I think that we didn’t prepare enough for what kind of world we were going to be in.

“We are now in a very different era than when Labour was last in government, and I think we didn’t have enough conversations at the top of the party about what that meant, how to prepare for it, what that meant for the state, how the state needed to be reformed, because in lots of ways the state is really out of shape and is unable to deliver for people.”

McSweeney suggested Labour should have been better prepared to offer faster change and been aware of the speed of the public’s judgments because of how many politicians had broken promises.

“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, and why that was important,” he said.

McSweeney, who was the subject of numerous profiles and front-page stories because of his influence on Starmer and his ruthless approach to party discipline, said he had found it uncomfortable being in the public eye.

“I need to move on to a new chapter in my life, and to do that, I need to close the old one, and to make clear that that’s happening,” he said.

“I loved working for Labour party and for a Labour government. It was an incredible privilege. I loved managing election campaigns, and that means that you don’t have a public voice, and you should not be a visible character. That didn’t work out well for me.

“I became more and more visible the longer I stayed in the job, but I thought I needed to become a bit more public to let people know who I am, and to close a chapter on the past.”

McSweeney became Starmer’s chief of staff after just three months in No 10 after the departure of Sue Gray, the former civil servant who was Starmer’s chief of staff in opposition. Asked if it was Gray who had failed to prepare adequately, McSweeney said it was “not about one individual”.

“When I say we weren’t prepared, I really do mean the Labour party more generally,” he said. “I take my own responsibilities for that, rather than blaming one person.”

He said there were key mistakes that had added up to the party’s quick unpopularity, saying that the tone set at the beginning had been too negative and Labour should have been “way more optimistic when we started”.

McSweeney said during his time in No 10 it had sometimes been hard for officials to contain their laughter during calls with the US president, Donald Trump. In the first call between Trump and Starmer, he said there had been too many birds killed by “windmills” – meaning the turbines on windfarms.

“He went on to say that as the foxes ate so many birds and became lazy, they became fat, and as they became so fat, people no longer knew what kind of a creature they were,” he added. Asked whether Trump had been trying to be funny, he said: “Definitely”.

McSweeney said he felt optimistic about Andy Burnham’s premiership and that he was excited about plans for No 10 North. “If at the top of government there are people who don’t just have a desk somewhere outside London, but actually live their whole lives outside of London, I think that will be a good thing,” he said.

“A lot of people won’t like it. I think it’s a good idea. I think he should just push it through, the logistics can be sorted out.”