Lord Livermore: Labour’s new campaign chief

Spencer Livermore, Baron Livermore. He currently serves as Financial Secretary to the Treasury since July 2024. Photo: HM Treasury/Flickr.

Following on from the disastrous local elections in May 2021, Keir Starmer quietly appointed a backbench MP to a key party role. Given the turbulent shadow cabinet reshuffle concurrently underway, her appointment was not widely covered—but she had one task. 

She had to save his leadership.

Shabana Mahmood now, of course, is one of the Labour Party’s most formidable MPs. The past September re-shuffle was largely seen by Whitehall hacks as an ornate gyration to maneuver her political talents into stopping the small boats by planting her in the Home Office—a sign of the sheer trust the PM puts in her. 

Because when Mahmood was appointed to the party role of National Campaign Coordinator in May 2021, her foremost task was to hold the Labour seat of Batley and Spen in a by-election, and prevent a double-defeat against the sitting Conservative government—a result which would almost inevitably spell the end of Starmer’s leadership of the Labour Party. But despite being an even less safe seat than Hartlepool, Mahmood threw everything (literally everything) at the campaign. Leaflets were described as “inflammatory”, she did not care. When campaign volunteers attempted call it quits on a day of campaigning and to go to the pub at 3pm, she “lost her shit”. It worked—Labour held the seat by 323 votes. What was potentially a historic by-election became a mere footnote in the Starmerite annals. 

Yet once again, Starmer has chosen to turn to another individual to reinvigorate his party machine and prevent a death-by-election-defeat. His choice was Spencer Livermore, Baron Livermore. 

Livermore is a cross between a New Labour grandee and a symbol of the Labour Party’s struggles of the last fifteen years. He is tasked with organising the party’s campaigns for the Sennedd, Holyrood and local elections in May 2026, all of which are increasingly seen as Starmer’s last chance for a stay of political execution.

Graduating from LSE in 1996, Livermore cut his political teeth working for Gordon Brown, both during the general election campaign, and as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Described as “young but incredibly capable” by Brown, Livermore was one of the key policy advisors alongside Ed Balls and Ed Miliband who helped create Brown’s “New Deal”—stimulating the hiring and education of young people. Livermore was also behind the political framework that saw Brown successfully increase National Insurance to fund the NHS in the 2002 Budget—something the former Chancellor still regards as a high-mark of his time in public office. 

Livermore also served as Director of Strategy to Brown, and was described by Phillip Gould (a member of Blair’s inner circle), as one of seven people who masterminded Labour’s election strategies in 2001 and 2005, the latter election victory being widely attributed to a strong economy, Brown’s popularity, and musings of what an all-but-confirmed Brown premiership would look like.

Upon Brown’s entry into Number 10, Livermore retained his role as Director of Strategy, where he was most notable for being a keen advocate of a snap general election in 2007, after the Blair-Brown handover saw a summer of good polling for Labour. Despite arguing strongly for an autumn election, and for Brown to announce it at the end of his conference speech, the Brownite inner circle was divided. The election not called, and the handling the ensuing fallout one of Brown’s biggest blunders, worsening divisions in the top team. Such were the tensions, that Livermore discovered that one of Brown’s aides was briefing against the inner circle, he reportedly shouted “What the f**k are you doing?” at them in front of a room of civil servants. So palpable were the divisions in Brown’s circle that Livermore left Downing Street in late 2007, for a private sector role at Saatchi and Saatchi. 

His return to the political fold came not with Starmer’s leadership but with Ed Miliband’s—being appointed Director of Labour’s 2015 General Election campaign. Following a disastrous 2014 European Parliament performance, Livermore was appointed by Miliband to direct strategy for the fixed general election in May of the following year—no doubt working closely alongside some of Labour’s top team now (Lucy Powell, Torsten Bell, Douglas Alexander, Jill Cuthbertson). The appointment was surprising, especially given Livermore’s close association with New Labour, something the Labour leader had been trying to junk.

Despite explicitly ruling out “altering” his political project, Livermore’s post-mortem of the European elections found that Labour was underperforming in marginal seats. A disastrous strategy meeting on 8th June 2014 in an attempt to convince Miliband to move his fiscal positions towards the Tories saw the strategist accused of plotting, and Miliband “did not speak to Livermore, the perceived ringleader, for a fortnight”. For the next 10 months, Livermore worked hand-in-hand with Douglas Alexander, the campaign coordinator, to get on the front foot. It did not work. 

Labour were decisively defeated in 2015, and Livermore was scathing in his judgement—identifying economic credibility, breadth of vision, and how Prime Ministerial the party leader is perceived to be as the three key tenets to winning an election. He did not refrain from sticking this to Corbyn. 

Livermore’s third return to politics came in 2020, when he was quietly made an opposition whip in the Lords. He served in a shadow Treasury role from April 2023, before becoming a member of the General Election Strategy Group, which oversaw the handling and direction of Labour’s successful election campaign.

Appointed Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Livermore’s influence across the government is deceptively strong. He is held in particularly high esteem by Morgan McSweeney, who even advocated for the former Brown aide to take on the role of Downing Street Chief of Staff. After Gray’s departure, McSweeney was presented with three alternative candidates for the role: a minister (Livermore), a permanent secretary or a former Number 10 staffer. McSweeney was strongly in favour of Livermore, reportedly telling a friend it “has to be Spencer”, until he was convinced that appointing anyone other than himself would do little to rectify the power schism in Number 10.

Even within the Treasury, Livermore’s influence remains extremely strong. When Torsten Bell was promoted in August to aid with budget preparations, a Treasury spokesperson quietly confirmed that Livermore was Reeves’ closest ministerial ally, effectively de-facto deputy Chancellor. 

Treasury coordination is particularly crucial for the role of National Campaign Coordinator. In the runup to the 2024 General Election, then-Coordinator Pat McFadden was so ironclad over Labour’s spending policies that Wes Streeting remarked “If you say spending three times, Pat appears with a scythe”. Not that such decisions are any easier now—it is clear the Treasury minister’s work is cut out for him. The recent blow of the Caerphilly by-election is only delayed, not dampened—with many MPs briefing that Starmer’s last chance are the May 2026 elections—and the consequences of such are not lost on Number 10. 

But Livermore, crucially, does not just know how to win. He knows how to lose—an underrated experience and lesson in politics. So then again, his current task may be a big ask, but this is someone who earned his stripes working for a man with the PR nous to claim that he “saved the world”. Livermore had once helped make him Prime Minister. (Jokes aside, Brown’s remark was an honest slip of the tongue).

And to be fair, Livermore doesn’t have to convince the electorate that the current Prime Minister can save the world. But he does have to convince them he can save Britain. Quite frankly, that might be an even harder task.