Morgan McSweeney ran the campaign that returned Labour to power in Britain's 2024 general election in a landslide. Now, in his first media interview since leaving government, he is saying the party was not ready for what came next.
According to the BBC, McSweeney told the BBC's Political Thinking with Nick Robinson podcast that Labour had not given enough thought to how the world had changed since the party last held power in the 1990s. He said the party should have been more aggressive in delivering visible results early and that it lacked a clear enough theory for how to do that.
"We didn't prepare enough for what kind of world we were going to. We are now in a very different era than when Labour was last in government," he said. "I think we didn't have enough conversations at the top of the party about what that meant, how to prepare for it, what that meant for the state. You have to deliver quite quickly for people, for them to see the change quickly. And I think we didn't come in with enough of a theory about how we would do that."
McSweeney followed Sir Keir into Downing Street as head of political strategy, taking on the chief of staff role three months after Labour's return to office. He replaced top civil servant Sue Gray, who had been appointed the year before the election and was tasked with leading preparations for government. When asked about Gray's role in the run-up to taking power, McSweeney declined to single her out. "When I say we weren't prepared, I really do mean the Labour Party more generally," he said, adding: "I take my own responsibilities for that, rather than blaming one person."
McSweeney said there had been a widespread expectation within the party that Labour would need at least two elections to return to power following its crushing 2019 defeat. He recalled that during planning meetings early in 2024, he began to realize that preparations for actually governing had fallen short. "Quite a lot of people" within the party had thought it needed a plan for defeat rather than a victory plan, he said.
McSweeney was thrust into public attention earlier this year when he resigned over his role in Peter Mandelson's appointment as the UK's ambassador to the United States. He said he was "still processing" Sir Keir's political demise but identified the lack of preparation as a central factor in the government's troubles. He also said Labour's time in opposition "went quickly" and that the party had been unable to deliver results fast enough to satisfy voters.
Sir Keir himself had made arguments about how Britain had changed since Labour's last term, McSweeney acknowledged, but suggested those arguments did not translate into concrete enough planning for what governing in that changed environment would actually require.
