Me and Mr Jones: Number 10’s autumn restructure

Starmer greets his newly-appointed Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones in the corridor outside the first-floor Thatcher room, where the Prime Minister apparently prefers to work.

Few will doubt that the recent ministerial reshuffle will dominate the headlines—there is no doubt the job-swapping and soap-opera style promotions/demotions will reinvigorate and reshape the government’s resolve to govern well. But good governing, unfortunately, isn’t necessarily good politics. Instead, like a music group, the quiet integration of all individual parts is critical—twenty soloists are not a choir. Thus the high level organisation, integration and work in Number 10 are the other half of the machine that creates the winning or losing ‘narrative’ that governments fight elections on. And like the Cabinet, that had to change as well. 

But, like the reshuffle, it was not a knee-jerk reaction. Since Morgan McSweeney took on the Chief of Staff job in October of last year, there has been a conspicuous absence of change to No10’s workflow. There were no significant structural changes to suit the political strategist’s style of leadership. His Downing Street setup was more a product of inheritance than creation. 

Until this summer. In May, McSweeney reportedly tasked the Future Governance Forum to draw up changes to the No10 structure, which were turned into a paper by his deputy Vidhya Alakeson by July. The internal No10 changes had also been slowly briefed to the press throughout recess. Musings over a “senior government figure” to enter No 10 have been circulating for weeks—with Baroness Smith, Baroness Casey and current minister Torsten Bell briefed for the role. New SpAd appointments and reshuffles were also divulged.

Most significant is undoubtedly the replacement of Ninjeri ‘Nin’ Pandit as the Prime Minister’s Principal Private Secretary. Whilst its media coverage has been more minor, it is difficult to overstate the role that the office plays within government. The PPS is the PM’s closest and most senior Civil Service aide, generally responsible for the coordination of Number 10, the civil service machinery, and crucially what goes in the PM’s red box. Very little can be achieved against their will. 

Pandit took on the role in the post-Sue Gray mini-reshuffle, taking over from Elizabeth Perelman, who did the role for Sunak and left the Civil Service entirely to work for his private office. Pandit, despite the briefings against her in recent days, is seen as an extremely effective operator. Having worked a health brief during the pandemic, her appointment was praised by none other than Dominic Cummings, who said she was “one of the brilliant women around the table”—and he is not one to speak highly of his former Civil Service colleagues. 

However, Pandit’s departure plays into the central theme of the reshuffle—economics. 

Almost all past PPSs hold a Treasury background of some regard. The geographical proximity of No 10 and No 11 is an apt political metaphor, and Pandit’s lack of economic experience was seen as something of a limit on the position’s effectiveness. She is not departing the government, instead moving to a new delivery role, heading up a bolstered unit in No10. 

The deficit of economic advisory power within Number 10 is a common theme, as articulated in this Perspectives article—and attempts to resolve this go beyond civil service changes. The title of economics advisor (and the concurrent Policy Unit role) were previously held by Rav Athwal, who was central to the 2024 manifesto. His departure over the summer opened the door to former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England Baroness Shafik, who was appointed to the role after months of searching for a ‘heavyweight’ individual. Moreover, Dan Yorke-Smith, Pandit’s replacement as PPS, arrives directly from the Treasury, demonstrating No 10’s recognition that economic policy must have greater centrality within Downing Street. He is not the only Treasury official to have moved to No 10 either.

There is a new Deputy Prime Minister in town—and his name isn’t David Lammy. Leading the headlines was Darren Jones’ appointment in the new Yes-Minister-sounding “Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister”. With provision to attend Cabinet (now also appointed to a Cabinet role), and reporting directly to the PM, the role appears to be the latest attempt to deal with the longstanding power deficit that core Number 10 staff such as the Chief of Staff have over the ministerial system. 

Jones’ appointment comes off the back of his many months of Whitehall meetings with ministers as he led the Spending Review in his Treasury role. His relatively hardline approach to fiscal discipline throughout the process (as well as a related media gaffe) have made him a more controversial figure amongst MPs. However, his resultant understanding of departmental operations and his ability to take a tough line with ministers are likely linked to his assumption of the delivery position.  

Monday’s lobby briefing also implied that Jones would be a minister in, unusually, Number 10. The restructuring also quietly announced that the now Jones-supervised PMDU (PM Delivery Unit) will move back to Downing Street from the Cabinet Office—despite the fact as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, he has more authority over the latter. Moreover, the PM has scrapped his separate ‘Mission Delivery Unit’ in the Cabinet Office and which was recently briefed against. Instead he has consolidated delivery into a singular Number 10 team to be led by Pandit and scrutinised by Jones. It is yet another example of Starmer’s apparent growing frustration over a lack of implementation on issues outside his close circle. 

Jones’ appointment also may likely change the way that government itself runs. An avowed technophile, he has publicly advocated for greater tech implementation in government (especially the Treasury), and is said to favour the creation of digital tools, such as those allowing for No10 to track spending in real time. Central to this is his likely use of 10DS, the data science team founded by Cummings but exiled to the Cabinet Office for many years- until Morgan McSweeney quietly revived it last year. 

The Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister role is also the largest strategic move made yet to alter McSweeney’s role without changing his title. Undoubtedly, McSweeney is a political strategist by trade, and less of a civil service-type operator. In opposition, his move away from the Chief of Staff role post-Hartlepool by election was less a demotion and more a refocusing of his work on his better abilities. Even when the vacancy arrived post-Sue Gray, he was more in favour of Brownite veteran Spencer Livermore filling the role, having already started scheming for the next election. As one staffer put it more bluntly:

“Morgan would be happier winning the third congressional district in Kentucky for some obscure Democrat rather than trying to pass a budget”. 

By delegating much of the day-to-day delivery and minutiae of government (which arguably culminated in the welfare vote), McSweeney retains much greater capacity to focus himself (and the government agenda) on terrain he is much more familiar with and proven on—political strategy. And as an MP of eight years and with a proven eye for Whitehall detail, the new Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister could also say much the same. Furthering this point is the recent announcement that Tom Kibasi, author of the 10-year NHS plan, has been seconded into No10 for a few months to work on strategy with McSweeney, a sign of the latter’s priorities. 

McSweeney’s workload alteration is far from the only change to Starmer’s inner staff already in Number 10. Although a less highly publicised announcement, a relatively significant reshuffle of the Policy Unit has begun to ameliorate the confusion over its leadership. As previously mentioned in Perspectives, a triumvirate of officials including former Blair-aide Liz Lloyd, long term Starmer ally and academic Stuart Ingham and civil servant Olaf Henrickson-Bell all held senior roles in the unit, causing confusion. 

All three have now been moved elsewhere. Henrickson-Bell has reportedly left his role, whilst Ingham has now been moved into McSweeney’s jurisdiction in a more political position. Lloyd will move to an unspecified government role outside of No10—apparently with a peerage. Policy appears now to be interim-lead by the Deputy Chief of Staff Vidhya Alakeson, who is known for her work rebuilding Labour’s business relationships with Reeves’ Chief of Staff Katie Martin in opposition, and is reportedly a popular figure amongst the backbenches. So too has Starmer’s No 10 Political Director Claire Reynolds been moved. Having faced criticism over her handling of the backbenches regarding the welfare vote, she will take on a senior role at the party HQ, replaced by Yvette Cooper’s heavyweight Chief of Staff Amy Richards. 

Yet as Starmer hopes to move onwards and upwards, significant questions still remain over his Downing Street setup. Despite new communications hires (ex-Sun editor David Dinsmore in a Civil Service role and Alastair Campbell deputy Tim Allan as Executive Director in No10), Labour’s relatively weak online presence and political storytelling, compared to Reform, will still take a concoction of innovation, radicalism and expertise to rectify. And for all the debate on whether the government’s narrative is clear, he has chosen not to resurrect the Strategy Unit, instead seemingly dividing the work between a plethora of aides including McSweeney, Paul Ovenden, and now Tom Kibasi and Tim Allan. 

Moreover, questions over delivery remain too. Briefings against the Cabinet Secretary, (which whether accurate or not, are plentiful) paint him as a stalwart of orthodoxy against a more radical Downing Street. But Wormald’s position is secure, and thus to the more radically-inclined, raises questions over how substantial a shakeup this is without rewiring the Cabinet Office. Starmer has also chosen not to issue the Orders-in-Council that Blair issued to allow his advisors to in turn issue orders to Civil Servants.

Reportedly, the PM spent much of recess mulling how to best restructure his own Number 10 from, ironically, Chequers. However his announcement of the changes were made from within Downing Street itself, in a speech directly to his No 10 staff. What is more, over the summer a noted shift in the media-shy PM’s comms saw him start to directly address the camera and report on his work in an unusually candid style. 

Reshuffle aside, it seems the PM and those around him have concluded that in more than one way, bringing the operation closer to home can do good. 

Image: No10/Flickr