Liz Kendall deserves her promotion

Keir Starmer has carried out a shadow cabinet reshuffle today that suggests he is confident about his authority over the Labour party, and that he is also genuinely keen to be a reforming prime minister. Giving so many key policy and campaigning jobs to centrist types will please those who have been pushing him to be less cautious. Unlike Fraser, I think Liz Kendall replacing Jon Ashworth in the work and pensions brief is an excellent example of the Labour leader being enthusiastic about reform. Ashworth is, as his appearances in The Spectator recently have shown, a very thoughtful and forward-thinking politician. He hasn’t been afraid to take on important arguments about welfare reform that were once the preserve of the right. But he is also a soft left politician, whose would tend to pull punches or make strategic retreats in order to placate upset Labour activists. He also leaned heavily on the policy work of more centrist colleagues. Kendall has learned a lot since her disastrous leadership campaign in 2015, but she has always been someone more interested in speaking to the country than wooing the party. She has been keen for a bigger reforming role for some time. If Ashworth set Labour on the path to welfare reform, Kendall will take it much further along and challenge some sacred cows.

She was thrown straight into the brief this afternoon as it was Work and Pensions Questions in the Commons. Her first question came late in the hour, and was largely political knockabout. Kendall said:

I thank the Secretary of State for his kind words. But whatever he says about economic inactivity, it remains a serious problem in this country, with the UK lagging behind all other G7 countries in terms of workforce participation since the pandemic in the last month. The number of people off work due to long-term sickness hit an all-time high. And what, Mr Speaker, is this government’s response? The Chancellor tells the over-50s to get off the golf course and the DWP Secretary tells them literally to get on their bike! Isn’t the truth that this government’s failure to cut waiting lists, sort social care and have a proper plan for reforming our job centres is harming individuals and our economy as a whole?

She later argued that ‘one of the biggest jumps in economic activity due to sickness is amongst young people with mental health being the biggest concern’, and that her party had a ‘plan to transform mental health’. She has done a lot of work on social care reform over the years, but has also been interested in benefits reform for a while. She backed Harriet Harman in 2015 when the interim party leader said the party would not oppose all benefit cuts. Alongside Wes Streeting, who has been pushing the boundaries on health for Labour for some time; Pat McFadden, who as national campaign co-ordinator has a huge role in shaping party policy; and other centrist colleagues including Peter Kyle at science, Kendall’s appointment suggests Starmer is gearing up for a policy offer that could surprise the electorate and at times enrage his own party.