Episode Details

Labour’s first 100 days in power have been marked by reports of conflict, dysfunction and delay at the centre of government. Sue Gray’s short tenure as Keir Starmer’s chief of staff has come to an end, with the prime minister choosing to reset his No.10 team just months after Labour won the general election.

What reforms are needed to radically improve the centre of UK government? What does Morgan McSweeney – Starmer’s new chief of staff – need to do to make No.10 work for the prime minister and deliver for the country? What lessons should Starmer take from the way former PMs ran their centres of government – and from those who tried to reset their No.10?

To answer these questions and more were:

• Tom Baldwin, author of Keir Starmer: The Biography and Labour’s Director of Communications (2010–15)
• Theo Bertram, Director of the Social Market Foundation and a former Special Adviser in No.10
• Henry Newman, former Special Adviser at the Cabinet Office and in No.10 
• Hannah White, Director of the Institute for Government and Chair of the Commission on the Centre of Government

The panel was chaired by Jill Rutter, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government.

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