Keir Starmer must be clear on what he wants from his next chief of staff

With the departure of Morgan McSweeney and Chris Wormald last week, the prime minister is in the market for replacements for his two top advisers: chief of staff and cabinet secretary. The person he appoints to the latter role will define how successful the prime minister is in rewiring the state; but it is the person he chooses as chief of staff who will define what the rewired state achieves for Starmer.

Starmer needs a chief of staff who can drive the politics within government

McSweeney was seen by many as the political brains behind Starmer, securing him first the Labour leadership and then a general election victory. But regardless of how far McSweeney’s campaigning skills were behind Starmer’s ascent to power, the skilled campaigner was evidently not always successful in driving his – or his boss’s – vision across the government machine.  

The next chief of staff needs to help Starmer define and communicate his political objectives more effectively so that everyone in government knows what they are trying to achieve, rather than constantly second-guessing the No.10 steer.

Part of making this happen is ensuring that the special adviser network is working well, which has not always been the case under Starmer. The chief of staff is the most senior political adviser in government and needs to lead the cohort of special advisers so that they are all pulling in the same direction. He or she also needs to ensure that spads are focusing on where they can add most value – defining political strategy for their department – rather than simply being ministerial bag carriers or duplicating the work of civil servants.  

Similarly, whoever Starmer appoints will need to continue the work of rebuilding relationships with the parliamentary party, which became increasingly strained in the first year or so of Labour’s time in office. While No.10 has been upping its outreach in recent months, the legislative agenda is busy, and the government will need all the support it can get from its restive backbenchers. A clearer sense of strategy will help keep MPs on side – but is no substitute for the ongoing work of building and maintaining relationships.

Whoever takes on the job will need to work well with others

Starmer’s two previous chiefs of staff, McSweeney and Sue Gray, brought in-depth knowledge of political campaigning and government respectively. But they were both accused of creating cliques and in-groups. Perhaps this is inevitable given the court-like world of No10. But whether the prime minister restructures Downing Street or not, he should choose a chief of staff who will work well  others across No.10, the Cabinet Office and beyond to push forward the PM’s objectives.  

The most important of these relationships, after the PM, will be with Darren Jones, Starmer’s chief secretary, who plays a key role in pushing forwards the prime minister’s objectives, including around modernising the state. The new chief of staff will need to ensure they are in lockstep with Jones, rather than competing for prime ministerial attention, if they are to turn Starmer’s objectives into reality.  

And the chief of staff will of course need to work closely with whoever the prime minister chooses as the next cabinet secretary, the person who must ensure the civil service delivers the PM’s vision while also driving through civil service reform. The latter can always drop down the to-do list when other events intervene: the chief of staff will need to help create the space for that agenda.

The last few weeks have been damaging for the prime minister. And the upcoming Gorton by-election and May’s local and devolved elections could yet inflict further blows. But while the uncertainty around Starmer’s premiership makes this a particularly tricky moment for the next chief of staff, now is an opportunity for someone to do the job differently and to help define and communicate what Starmer is actually in government for.