Keir Starmer wasted no time on entering 10 Downing Street in appointing his cabinet that same day. But taking longer are the junior ministerial posts – some still vacant – and the appointment of special advisers. Such aides often get a bad rep around Westminster, thanks, in part to the mythology of The Thick Of It. But they play a key role in government, with some even wielding more power than the average minister. As is often the case with plum jobs, demand outweighs supply, with too few posts to share around the Starmtroopers. Here are the appointments so far:
Sue Gray – Chief of Staff. Keir’s all powerful pick from the civil service was nailed on for this job. However, even before she entered 10 Downing Street, there had been rumblings of tension between her and other members of Starmer’s team. Gray reports to Keir Starmer.
Morgan McSweeney – Head of Political Strategy. Starmer’s most-trusted aide, he ran his 2020 leadership campaign before serving successively as first his chief of staff and then his director of campaigns. He will be central to Labour’s efforts to maintain its electoral coalition. McSweeney reports to Keir Starmer.
No. 10 political unit – reporting to McSweeney.
Paul Ovenden – Director of Political Strategy. A former journalist and party veteran, who left under Jeremy Corbyn but returned as head of communications in June 2020. During the election he ran the party’s successful attack unit and landed more than 150 anti-Tory stories.
Vidhya Alakeson – Political Director. Previously Starmer’s director of external relations in opposition, she will help conduct research and shape messaging. Alakeson previously worked for the ‘Power to Change Trust,’ NHS England and the Resolution Foundation.
Henna Shah – Director of Party Relations. Will be a key link between government ministers and the Labour campaign machine. Shah is a Lambeth councillor and formerly worked for election guru Pat McFadden. She also co-founded #ReclaimTheseStreets.
No. 10 media team – reporting to Doyle.
Matthew Doyle – Director of Communications. Honed his craft in the Labour Press Office from 1998 to 2005, before becoming Special Advisor to both Blunkett and Blair from 2005 until Blair stepped down in June 2007. Stayed with Blair as his Political Director and Spokesperson from 2007 until 2012, before a stint as Comms Director (Europe) for the International Rescue Committee. Has run Starmer’s comms since the post-Hartlepool purge of July 2021.
Steph Driver – Deputy Director of Communications: After four years working for Lindsay Hoyle, she took on various Press & Comms roles for Labour from 2011 until 2019. Stepped away from the party to work as an Account Director for Speed Communications and PR and Communications Consultant for Communications Consultancy. Took up her current post in March 2021. Described as ‘a solid and calm operator with a determination to deliver’ by her MD at Speed Communications.
Sophie Nazemi – Press Secretary. Nazemi is one of the longest serving in the Labour team, from the Corbyn days to Starmer, straight out of university.
Alan Lockey – Starmer’s Speech Writer. Worked for Demos, then led the Future of Work programme at the Royal Society of Arts. Previously criticised Starmer in columns for Prospect and CapX. He wrote of how ‘Keir Starmer’s Labour party is an enigma wrapped in a paradox’ and ‘afflicted by self-doubt’ and that ‘It’s not clear to me that he (Starmer) actually views the art of story-telling as something particularly fundamental to his job description.’ He also said of Labour’s abstention on the Covid tiers: ‘abstaining is a deplorable tactic at the best of times; an insufferably convoluted position that never advances a substantive political argument…it really is unacceptably weak.’
George Mason – Press Officer. Worked at Red Bull, wrote reviews for Flux Music and managed accounts at iNHouse communications before becoming Starmer’s Press Officer in August 2022.
Tom Lillywhite – Director of Digital. In post since August 2020, previously Vice-Chair of Holborn and St Pancras CLP. It was suggested he was behind the controversial ‘RejoinRebuild’ site.
Calum Masters – Head of Broadcast. Worked for Joseph Rowntree Foundation from 2016 until 2021.
Lidia Fanzo – Head of Print. Former Comms Officer for BBC, then worked successively at DCMS, DBT and BEIS in Whitehall, before becoming Regional Media Manager for Labour in September 2023.
Caitlin Roper – Head of Digital Content. Previously did the same role for Sadiq Khan.
No. 10 policy unit
Stuart Ingham – Head of Policy: Has been with Starmer since Dec 2016, beginning as Senior Researcher before rising to Head of Policy in Jan 2020. In academia prior to parliament, lectured at Exeter as a PhD and taught at Oxford.
Rav Athwal – Director of Policy: Head of Growth Strategy at the Treasury from Jan 2019 – Sept 2020, under Sunak. He ‘always asks the pertinent questions’ and was put in charge of corralling the Labour manifesto. Allegedly ‘upset several Labour officials during the party’s tense national policy forum last year.’
Donjeta Miftari – Foreign Affairs: Worked for Shabana Mahmood until recently. Before that, was Chief Comms Advisor to the President of Kosovo for two years.
Harvey Redgrave – Home Affairs. Previously worked for the Tony Blair Institute. Prior to this, Redgrave was home affairs advisor to the Leader of the Opposition Ed Miliband, and a Deputy Director at the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit.
Carys Roberts – Policy SpAd: Previously the Executive Director of IPPR since Feb 2020. In this capacity, she expressed her disappointment on Labour’s £28 billion Green New Deal U-turn and retweeted an IPPR report recommending the two-child benefit cap be scrapped.
Rachel Stratham – Policy SpAd: Her previous job was Associate Director for Work and Welfare State at IPPR. Brought in to No 10 to lead work on childcare, the early years and education, having called for the two-child benefit cap to be scrapped.
Muneera Lula – Policy SpAd: Focused on Culture. She was formerly in the Department for Business then worked for an adviser to Angela Rayner before moving on to Head of Domestic Policy.
Starmer’s private office:
Jill Cuthbertson – Director of the Office: Was Political Office Manager & Personal Assistant to Gordon Brown when he was PM, before becoming Head of Scheduling and Deputy Head of Events for Ed Miliband when he was LOTO.
Treasury team:
Katie Martin – Chief of Staff. Was Chief Press Officer for Gordon Brown when he was PM. Head of Philanthropic Partnerships for The Guardian from August 2016-17, has been with Reeves since July 2021. Regarded as Reeves’s right hand woman.
Ben Nunn – Press Chief. Formerly Keir Starmer’s director of communications during his campaign for Labour leadership, stayed on as Exec Director of Comms for a year, then advisor to Reeves since July 2023.
Matt Pound – Political Secretary. Deputy Field Director for Starmer’s Labour leadership campaign. Political Director for Elections since March this year.
Felicity Slater – Darren Jones SpAd. Has worked for Jones since September last year, previously was Poitical Advisor to the Shadow Secretaries of State for Wales & Northern Ireland. Prior to that, Slater was a Senior Associate at di:ga communications.
Foreign Office:
Will Heilpern – Media SpAd. He has worked for Lammy since 2018, minus a brief stint for Starmer as interim Head of Domestic Policy. He is also an alumnus of the Telegraph Mandrake diary column.
Ben Judah – Political Advisor. Worked for the Atlantic Council in DC until March 2024 and previously wrote a column for the Jewish Chronicle.
Scott Gilfillan – SpAd to Development Minister Anneliese Dodds. Ran for East Worthing & Shoreham Labour selection last year. Has a PhD in the History of International Relations from the LSE and worked for Bridget Phillipson for six years. Joined Dodds as Political Adviser in June 2020 from the TUC.
Kieran Cunningham – SpAd to Development Minister Anneliese Dodds. Former political adviser to Labour.
Home Office:
Amy Richards – Chief of Staff. ‘Well-known for being fiercely loyal and efficient’, Richards has worked on press for Jess Phillips and Yvette Cooper’s 2015 leadership campaign. Is married to Gregor Poynton MP.
Natasha Collett – Policy and Parliamentary SpAd. Longtime advisor to Yvette Cooper, from 2018 to 2022. Then had a stint as a political consultant for BB Partners before returning to Cooper’s office in July 2023.
Callum Tipple – Policy and Parliamentary SpAd. Was Policy Advisor to Peter Kyle MP, has contributed three articles to the Tony Blair Institute. Has worked for Cooper since Dec 2021.
Jess Leigh – Media SpAd. Partner to Stuart Ingham. Lambeth Councillor since 2018 for Ferndale Ward.
Damian ‘McPoison’ McBride – SpAd, will lead on fraud policy. Once regarded as the most devastatingly effective spinner in Westminster, this former civil servant press office was a Gordon Brown loyalist, scourge of the Blairites and dubbed ‘McPoison’ by Peter Mandelson. Resigned over ‘Smeargate’ in April 2009 (a Guido expose) and has kept a low profile since returning as Emily Thornberry’s SpAd in 2016. His memoir, confessing to his antics under Brown, is regarded as one of the best books of the Labour years.
Ministry of Justice:
Josh Williams – Media SpAd. Was Director of Strategy for Labour Together until recently. Co-founded The Draft, columnist for City AM from 2019 to 2023. Worked from 2016 to 2018 for GiveDirectly, Rory Stewart’s charity, in Uganda.
Tash Brewis – Parliamentary and Policy SpAd. Background in PR and worked for Save the Children UK.
Ellie Cumbo – Policy SpAd. Was Head of Public Law for The Law Society from 2019 to 2023, then briefly a Policy Fellow at Labour Together. Southwark councillor for St Giles ward.
Defence:
Tom Hughes – Media SpAd. Former press officer and spokesperson for Starmer, worked on his leadership campaign, has also been an aide to Sarah Jones.
Daniel Harris – Policy SpAd. Political Advisor to Baroness Smith of Basildon before moving to work for John Healey from Feb 2022.
Grace Wright – Policy SpAd. Also worked under Baroness Smith of Basildon.
Health:
Matt Goddin (Chief of Staff, leading on parliamentary engagement). Has worked for Streeting since he became an MP in 2015, first as Office Manager before becoming Chief of Staff at the end of 2020. Also councillor for Fullwell Ward in Redbridge. Plead guilty to a charge of allowing the publication of election material without the correct imprint in 2018, and was fined.
Will Prescott – Media SpAd. Previously comms for Wes Streeting. Had a spat with Pulse magazine editor Jaimie Kaffash, which ended up in Private Eye earlier this year.
Kirsty O’Brien (SpAd for stakeholders). Lengthy career with Labour. Head of Policy Development from 2005 to 2008, then Policy Advisor in the last months of Brown’s No 10, from September 2009 to April 2010. Head of Strategic Comms for the People’s Vote. Served as Head of Public Engagement on the 2021-22 review of Children’s Social Care. Has worked for Wes since last November.
Sarah Harrison – SpAd. Worked for Streeting since 2021. She holds degrees in Biological Sciences from both Oxford and Cambridge and previously worked at the Wellcome Trust, the DHSC and the Government Office for Science.
DCMS:
Richard Howarth – Has worked for Nandy since she became Shadow Levelling Up Sec at the end of 2021.
Harjeet Sahota – SpAd. Formerly worked as Starmer’s Head of External Relations.
Business:
Finn McGoldrick – Chief of Staff and Comms SpAd. Chair of Labour Students back in the day (2014/15), has been Pol Advisor to the Shadow Business Sec since July 2020, under Ed Miliband and then Jonathan Reynolds since the Nov 2021 reshuffle.
Jack Glynn – Trade Policy SpAd.
Sophia Kewell – Business Engagement SpAd. Was Pol Advisor to Reynolds from 2016-21, brought back in July this year. Director of UK Public Affairs for UK Finance from 2021 to May 2024.
Rayner office:
Nick Parrott – Chief of Staff. Married to Lisa Johnson, formerly of GMB Union. Parrott was national head of Ops for Unite Union (2015) and then served as joint PAD for five MPs from 2015 to 2020.
Alex Jones – Senior Adviser to Rayner since March 2022. Formerly Head of Comms at GMB Union, before that Head of Political Strategy at the NUS
Issy Bull – Political and policy manager to Rayner since June 2022. Previously worked for Rosena Allin-Khan, MP for Tooting, for three months in 2020.
Kate Robson – Political Adviser to Rayner since February 2022. Worked for a number of Labour MPs previously, including Nick Thomas-Symonds, Yvette Cooper, Cat Smith.
Education
Owain Mumford – Media SpAd. Has worked on and off for the Labour party since 2017, working with Phillipson since the beginning of 2022.
Environment:
Jamie Williams – Media SpAd. Formerly worked for SEC Newgate and Hanbury prior to joining up with Steve Reed in November 2022.
Northern Ireland Office:
Francis Grove-White – SpAd. Former worked for Chatham House and then the Labour party as International Policy Officer under Jeremy Corbyn. Was Deputy Director of the disastrous People’s Vote UK campaign before working at the DHSC.
Wales office:
Ryan Denston – Political Adviser. Previously worked in the shadow defence office. Volunteered in Catherine West MP’s office (2015).
Others:
Eleanor Salter (Ed Miliband and Steve Reed) – Attracted criticism after suggesting a ‘frequent flyer levy’ should be introduced, that domestic flights could be phased out entirely and bringing the aviation sector into public hands.
Isabel Abbs (No. 10 policy on devolved issues) – Policy Adviser. Previously specialised in health and education policy for Labour and before that worked at The Health Foundation.
Laura Hickey (No. 10 SpAd) – Working on foreign policy. Formerly a Foreign Office official who worked as deputy consul general in New York.
Olly Longworth (Chief of Staff) – Research Manager (Attack and Rebuttal) in labour since September 2023, and previously a press officer between 2021-23. Previously worked as a press officer for Liam Byrn’s mayoral campaign in West Midlands (lost to Andy Street in 2021). Interned for Anas Sarwar in 2016, worked on Sarwar’s leadership campaign in 2017. Previously lobbied parliament on behalf of eco pressure group UK100.
Jonty Leibowitz (DESNZ SpAd) – Political Adviser to Ed Miliband since August 2020. Described by his contemporaries as a ‘mini-Ed’.
Nicola Bartlett (DSIT SpAd) – Political Adviser to Yvette Cooper since February 2022. Previously worked for Angela Rayner and Jo Stevens. Former Mirror political correspondent
Alex Roycroft (SpAd to Chief Whip Alan Campbell) – Political Adviser to Alan Campbell since January 2020.
Simon Puddick (Whips’ Office SpAd) – Political Adviser. Worked for the party since early 2010s and left in 2020 to join business advisory company Flint Global.
Anthony McCaul (SpAd to Commons leader Lucy Powell)
Amy Provan (SpAd to Commons leader Lucy Powell)
James Kilmartin (SpAd to Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden): Had a brief stint at Labour Together for three months this year, working as director of strategy and planning, and interim co-director.
John Stevens (SpAd to Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden): Former political editor of the Mirror.
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