Shorouk Express
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Dominic Cummings, Theresa May’s “Nick and Fi” – prime ministerial advisers rarely last as long as the PM they work for, as they become lightning rods for criticisms of the administration.
And with anger growing over Labour’s welfare cuts, will the same now be true for Keir Starmer’s background fixer Morgan McSweeney?
Labour MPs are calling for “regime change” in Downing Street, with some hitting out at the “over-excitable boys” in Sir Keir’s top team.
Many blame Sir Keir’s chief of staff, the softly spoken Irishman Mr McSweeney, for ignoring the rising concerns of a huge number of Labour backbenchers over his plans to deny welfare payments to hundreds of thousands of disabled people in a bid to save £5bn a year.
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The government has been thrown into chaos after more than 120 Labour MPs – enough to sink the government’s large majority – signed up to a move that could scupper the cuts, despite threats of deselections and warnings over the government’s potential collapse.
Backbenchers say they have been warning for months about the upset in the party over the issue, but they have been ignored.
As the PM flew back from the Nato conference in The Hague on Wednesday, one told The Times: “We are all very happy that we have a leader who’s so respected around the world… we just think he needs fewer over-excitable boys in his team.”
As Labour’s former elections guru, and now Sir Keir’s closest aide, Mr McSweeney has near-unrivalled influence. But he is facing criticism from some who wonder if he is better suited to campaigns than the day-to-day job of running something as large and unwieldy as the day-to-day running of government.
He is not tied to the Westminster bubble – his wife is an MP for a Scottish seat – but is seen as the ultimate Labour insider, with many giving him credit for delivering Labour’s landslide victory last summer.
But he has long been considered a bogeyman of the left of the party for his drive to expunge Corbynism from Labour.
He has been accused of ruthlessly promoting loyalist MPs into safe and easily winnable Labour seats, a tactic that appears, however, not to have worked in the latest crisis.
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Even before the latest row erupted, he was facing the ire of some Labour MPs over the controversial two-child benefit cap.
The PM is reportedly keen to scrap the limit, which prevents those on benefits claiming support for more than two children, one of George Osborne’s ‘austerity’ decisions, although it would be difficult to fill the multi-billion pound black hole it would leave.
However, the Labour leader’s right-hand man is thought to back the policy, arguing that voters support it on the grounds of fairness – that if working families have to consider if they could afford another child, so should those on benefits.
But Mr McSweeney is not the only senior Labour figure under fire over the welfare cuts. Labour backbenchers are also gunning for the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, who needs the £5bn the move is designed to save to balance the books.
Labour MPs told The Independent this week that either Ms Reeves had to go, or his own backbenchers would oust Sir Keir. Others pin the blame for the crisis on the veteran Labour chief whip Alan Campbell, for not seeing the rebellion coming.
Still, it is striking that, once again, a backroom figure like Mr McSweeney has been thrust to the fore when a government gets into trouble.
