tussled with morgan mcsweeney and he is - who have tussled with morgan mcsweeney and he is still- who party politics under keir _ he's laughing! the story of labour party politics under keir starmer i party politics under keir starmer has mostly— party politics under keir starmer has mostly been _ party politics under keir starmer has mostly been that _ party politics under keir starmer has mostly been that morgan . party politics under keir starmer - has mostly been that morgan always wins both— has mostly been that morgan always wins both internally— has mostly been that morgan always wins both internally and _ has mostly been that morgan always wins both internally and indeed - has mostly been that morgan always wins both internally and indeed i- wins both internally and indeed i suppose — wins both internally and indeed i suppose externally _ wins both internally and indeed i suppose externally in _ wins both internally and indeed i suppose externally in the - wins both internally and indeed i suppose externally in the most i suppose externally in the most recent — suppose externa

and then there's morgan mcsweeney, who is there's morgan mcsweeney, who is the director of politicalet. and he was, of course , loyal to and he was, of course, loyal to keir and close to keir starmer ever since his leadership campaign going back to 2020. and he stayed with starmer right through to that election victory. and of course, starmer wanted to have a well—run, well—oiled machine within whitehall, and that's why he recruited sue gray. and of course, there was there were some there was a lot of criticism from the tories saying, hang on a moment. this was the woman brought to in investigate boris johnson, and then suddenly she's now going to go and work for keir starmer. so when that was announced, it caused a furore at the time. but the two there are factions and, and the one thing i'd say is it never ends well when you have factions in downing street, it's impossible that you ever end up in a situation where everybody holds hands and agrees to sing kumbaya together. it just doesn't happen . you have to have doesn't happen. you have to have that split and it may not happen imm

is this power struggle with morgan mcsweeney, starmer's head of staff, going to have an effect on howow downing street is run, or is the prime minister going to find that he can't actually hold on to her? this is a really key power struggle going on in downing street at the moment. anyway, i'm absolutely delighted now that we have got matthew laza to discuss this a former labour adviser, matthew, thank you very much for coming on tonight. these bilious attacks against sue seem pretty organised. i mean, the newspapers are full of them and this doesn't happen by accident. somebody must be orchestrating this . this. >> well, i think what you've got is when a new government comes in, some people get jobs, other people don't. some people get the desk that they wanted. other people don't. and i think that there have been i don't think there's a sort of conspiracy with one person behind it. i think what's happened is, is that discontented people have been briefing against sue, and they're pushing against an open door because the media are looking for a you know, for a villain of the piece. a

is this power struggle with morgan mcsweeney, starmer's head of staff, going to have an effect on howow downing street is run, or is the prime minister going to find that he can't actually hold on to her? this is a really key power struggle going on in downing street at the moment. anyway, i'm absolutely delighted now that we have got matthew laza to discuss this a former labour adviser, matthew, thank you very much for coming on tonight. these bilious attacks against sue seem pretty organised. i mean, the newspapers are full of them and this doesn't happen by accident. somebody must be orchestrating this . this. >> well, i think what you've got is when a new government comes in, some people get jobs, other people don't. some people get the desk that they wanted. other people don't. and i think that there have been i don't think there's a sort of conspiracy with one person behind it. i think what's happened is, is that discontented people have been briefing against sue, and they're pushing against an open door because the media are looking for a you know, for a villain of the piece. a

at that time morgan mcsweeney went to labor hq to work on the party election trilogy which he obviouslyessfully. you have that vision of clearly defined roles. sue graves was the chief of staff in westminster. . will give mcsweeney was running the election campaign. since labor has become the government, those two are back working together. clearly there seems to be some tensions. i have heard that myself. so what i think needs to happen -- it is normal for advisors to disagree. for cabinet ministers to disagree and have differences of opinion on strategy. that is politics the danger for keir starmer is. if that becomes dysfunctional and there are not here -- not clear lines. whose job ends where and who is in charge of who. getting those things bedded in and sorted out will make things easier. they have only been in power for five weeks. some of that is being worked through. it has been a period of high tension. there are a few teething problems. . i'm sure it will be sorted out. >>>> we have got a few seconds. i want to ask you. we are hearing keir starmer who had postponed his holida

morgan mcsweeney's desk.r's mcsweeney, one of keir starmer's key aides, sort of, in my mind's eye, it's sort of each week, mcsweeney's desk is moving a further yard away from the prime minister, a kind of extreme, a kind of, in the thick of it episode, isn't it about it? >> isn't it a sort of in the thick of it episode? >> yeah, it does seem like that. and it doesn't seem there's anything ideological at stake at all. josh, it's not that they disagree about ukraine or or how to handle the riots. there's no great overarching statecraft really here or any big philosophical divide, they're all part of the blancmange of the labour government. and i think it's likely to get pretty vicious pretty quick. so these are just a few straws in the wind. but you know what? i don't think it will be very long before a few bales of hay in the wind, frankly. >> well, exactly. well, who do you think keir starmer is going to side with? what do you think? because i believe he doesn't. he really hates this kind of politicking . pow

at that time, morgan mcsweeney went over to labour hq very successfully.sion of clearly defined roles. sue gray was the chief of staff in westminster. now, obviously, since labour became the government, those two are back working together, and there seems to be some tension. i have heard that myself. so, what i think needs to happen... and look, it is normalfor cabinet members to disagree and have different opinions on strategy. that is politics. the dangerfor keir starmer is that that becomes dysfunctional. there are not clear lines of accountability and roles. it is in charge? getting those things bedded in will make things easier. they have only been in power for five weeks. easier. they have only been in power forfive weeks. some easier. they have only been in power for five weeks. some of that is still... it has been a period of high tension. toes get trodden on. it will be sorted out. and high tension. toes get trodden on. it will be sorted out.— it will be sorted out. and we only have a few _ it will be sorted out. and we only have a few seconds, _

there's a line that says that morgan mcsweeney, who, of course, is the great political thinker, the strategistthe dominic cummings behind keir starmer, on to him in a minute. >> and his tensions with sue gray >> so, yes, i mean, there's a line that he wants to be tough on, tough on populism and tough on, tough on populism and tough on the causes of populism and borrow from the blair line, i don't get this whole, criticism of populism. >> i mean, the thing about populism is it is quite popular with the electorate. you know, things like social housing for people with british citizenship ahead of those who may have arrived here by dubious means. i mean, it's a pretty successful policy for whoever tables it. what surprises me about angela raynerisif what surprises me about angela rayner is if there's anyone in that cabinet that could stand up for the so—called left behind again, this is not a justification of any of the violence that's taken place. but if we have people who are white, working class who feel that they are left behind, ignored , are left behind, ignored, forgotten and not heard, who

and there's a guy called morgan mcsweeney . guy called morgan mcsweeney.he heart of keir starmer. he helped to, get this this, huge election landslide in the bag for the labour party , a reportedly, sue labour party, a reportedly, sue gray has moved mcsweeney's desk away from the office of sir keir starmer twice. and that's caused upset and reportedly, sue grey has said that morgan mcsweeney can't access , some, some quite can't access, some, some quite technically, important, secretive government computers, this is described by number 10 sources as, codswallop and noises off from people who don't know what they're talking about. but as eamonn said earlier, this is what happens when you have quite senior unelected officials who are just annoying people because of their influence, already, nadine dorries, a former tory mp, has called sue gray dominic cummings mark two and her influence is important. she apparently appointed some a minister to the government. it wasn't sir keir starmer doing it directly, i have met her and she's she's a very nice person, she

interesting that last week labour's election mastermind, morgan mcsweeney, and the downing street directorhe themes you might recognise. every day across our nation, families talk about their plans for the future. they talk about how they're going to achieve them financially. and prices are still too high. when i am elected president, i will make it a top priority to bring down costs. we should be doing everything we can to make it more affordable to buy a home. under my plan, more than 100 million americans will get a tax cut. i will help families, letting you keep more of your hard—earned money. cheering but, of course, kamala harris has been in the white house for four years, alongsidejoe biden — which means the trump team have plenty of material to go at. and their new ad shines a light on the many acknowledgements the vice president has made, that things are an awful lot tougher. everyday prices are too high. food, rent, gas, back—to—school clothes. that's called bidenomics. i love bread — costs 50% more today. ground beef is up almost 50%. there's not much left at the end of the mont

but at the same time, there is another character in this , morgan mcsweeney, whose this, morgan mcsweeneywhose job it is to ensure that the politics are right. basically, the presentation and there have been all sorts of strange stories about the two of them shuffling one another's desks around and god knows what else. and i can see it's going to take i mean, i can see one problem, which is the fact that sunak had a serious problem with political presentations, which is why he made so many gaffes. and it is very important not to allow that to happen under the new administration. but most certainly there are the there are this this does look like a serious bout of teething troubles, on which subject i might add. i put up my hand for a dear little baby the other day, and he took my hand and put it in his mouth and bit it. >> well, well, there you are. >> well, well, there you are. >> you can't trust anyone nowadays, can you? >> you can't. don't blame it, peter. don't blame it, thank you very much indeed. good to see you. i do sort of think they've got to sort this out. what is it with these

and also look at the look at labour, morgan mcsweeney who's the chief strategist for the sir keir starmerted to be concerned about reform. he knows that as many as 80 seats reform were a close second to labour. if they can neutralise the reform uk vote and deal with that, they can then , even cement in the second then, even cement in the second term, which they're now planning for in labour high command. so i think there's a real concern about reform uk and understanding why people voted for reform uk if they were formerly of a labour background . formerly of a labour background. >> and in the video yesterday of lee in gwent, he was very fighting for him. >> he was saying labour have been useless in wales. these lot are the people's army and indeed, councillor david thomas, who will speak to at about 5:15. he's coming on the show to talk to us about his his new conversion to reform. he is now actually been installed as the reform leader for wales. so chris, it does seem as though, at least in wales, at least the reform party are on manoeuvres and calling himself reform uk leader will mean

he calls it the j—curve, the idea that, and this is something that morgan mcsweeney, the senior adviser you go up. you have to. so, so starmer took the labour party, just go up, took the labour party down into a dark place with wrangling over constitutional reform and then shot up into the heights of massive majority government. could it not be argued that keir starmer is doing a first year down strike before he shoots us up into the into the heights of heady electability? >> yeah, well, no it's not. that's not a bad way of analysing, what what he's up to. but he shouldn't be doing the analysis. he should leave that to people like me. i can say things have got to get worse before they get better. but he should say i'm dealing with this tough stuff that i've inherited from the conservatives but things. but but you know, mark my words , things are going to my words, things are going to are going to get better. it'll take it'll take time. it won't be instant. but you know , be instant. but you know, instead of instead of rock rubble and ruin, he ought to be offering a brighter future. >> w

story, they kind of talk about this being also part of this power struggle between herself and morgan mcsweeney right hand man up until this point. so it's a big question about who really runs the country, who really is in control. we've always known that they've been chief advisers who tend to exercise a hell of a lot of power. is she turning into a female malcolm tucker? it certainly sounds like it. and from what you hear of the accounts, she could easily be quite just as swearing. forceful. so it's , again, it's forceful. so it's, again, it's not necessarily the newest thing in the world, but it is a reminder of how much power people who haven't been elected have never been elected, can actually wield within a government like this. it's difficult with these stories, isn't it? >> because you never know how much the person in charge, starmer , is saying, look, just starmer, is saying, look, just i don't want to be bothered with 1,000,001 things. keep them away from me. how much filtering they're doing and how much they're doing and how much they're being asked to do and how much they are sort