Alistair Campbell wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea when he went toe to toe with the media in the New Labour years of Tony Blair. His mission was to herd the cats of different ministers with their own agendas, squash the egos, and put out a coherent message about what New Labour was trying to do. He overreached in the matter of a dossier on the reasons for us going to war in Iraq, but overall, he is seen as one of the most effective comms chiefs any political party has had. He was the Bernard Ingham of Labour.
Labour needs such a figure now. The run up to the party conference has been a shambles in terms of public relations. As our CEO Frank Mckenna says in his blog this week, the cut in winter fuel allowances for pensioners was announced far too soon. It should have been included in a mix of measures in the budget. Instead during slow news August, it has dominated the headlines.
It was announced at the same time as train drivers were getting big, no conditions, pay rises. The press was able to link the two, poor pensioners and well rewarded drivers from ASLEF which is affiliated to Labour. And this is the point, an effective comms chief would have seen the presentational issues and avoided the row.
But there’s another big headache for the Prime Minister closer to home in Downing Street. Sue Gray, the Downing Street Chief of Staff is not popular with some of her colleagues. She has had to make difficult decisions about who gets jobs. Was it to be the people who had seen Labour through the opposition years or new talent more suited to government? Some jealousy and the need to allow time for things to bed down is fair enough. The gatekeeper to the Prime Minister’s office is rarely popular. However, things appear to be more serious. The BBC were directly briefed by Downing Street dissidents about Gray’s salary being higher than Starmer’s. So, some people are so fed up that, two months in, they are prepared to damage the government.
As well as this we have the row over clothing gifts for Sir Keir and his wife. Whoever gave the hapless Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, the line that Lord Ali’s generosity was needed to make sure the PM looked smart, needs removing. Linked to the controversy about jobs for the boys and girls this is very damaging for Labour. They made ending sleaze and chaos, a central plank of their attack on the Tories.
The rivalry between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown was a saga that plagued the New Labour government. It is alarming that internal division are on display so soon, once again.
The party conference should be a time for celebrating a great victory and laying out what is practically going to be done in office. We get the toxic Tory legacy stuff. In Liverpool, the Chancellor and the Prime Minister need to give a vision, disperse the gloom, and end the infighting.
