Keir Starmer is expected to reshuffle his top team before the summer, with several key figures expected to get the chop.
Lisa Nandy leaving a Cabinet Meeting in Downing Street (Image: Getty)
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy faces being axed from Sir Keir Starmer’s top team amid claims “she doesn’t work hard enough”. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson is also set to get the chop as part of a pre-summer Government reshuffle, reports have suggested.
This would come after what might be poor local election results on May 1, critics have suggested. Speaking to the Mail, a source said: “Lisa seems to work about two days a week on her portfolio.” She has also been criticised for reportedly being interested in the “sport” part of her brief in running the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
But allies of Ms Nandy have claimed she had been targeted by No 10 Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney, including because of the Government’s welfare cuts.
An MP said: “They just want to purge the Left – even though Lisa is actually soft Left.”
Others believe the reshuffle should bring in “new talent’ and reflect frustration among new Labour MPs that some in the Cabinet were “carried over” from Opposition.
“Keir needs the best people around him – some of the Cabinet are just not good enough,” one said.
Labour is also having to manage perceptions because a lot of briefings against Sir Keir’s top team have been women.
Meg Hillier, the senior Labour MP who chairs the Treasury select committee, said: “Somebody thinks it’s clever to brief against senior women when they are doing a good job. This isn’t a game. There is serious heavy lifting to do. We have elections coming up in May 1 – they should be backing the team running the country.”
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Sue Gray and former transport secretary Louise Haigh are among the high profile departures from the Prime Minister’s team already.
His director of communications this week quit Downing Street after nine months in the job.
Matthew Doyle, who served as Sir Keir’s communications chief in opposition, is understood to be stepping down immediately after feeling he had stabilised the Government’s communications strategy after a rocky first few months in office.
Mr Doyle said in an email to his team it was “time to pass the baton on”
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