McSweeney Says Labour Botched 2024 Government Planning After Landslide Win

3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Jul 2

Morgan McSweeney said Labour entered office after its 2024 landslide without enough preparation for governing, leaving it unable to deliver change quickly enough for voters.
In his first media interview, Starmer's former chief of staff said party leaders failed to grasp how much Britain and the state had changed since Labour last governed in the 1990s.
He said Labour's early choices deepened the damage: the winter fuel cut for millions of pensioners "defined the government," and the freebies row also hurt badly.
McSweeney, who resigned in February over the Peter Mandelson ambassador appointment, said the failure was collective rather than Sue Gray's alone and that many in Labour had expected defeat, not victory, in 2024.
Looking beyond Starmer's downfall last week, he backed Andy Burnham as Labour's next leader and said he plans to stay out of British politics for at least the next few years.