Former Downing Street chief of staff Morgan McSweeney has stated that the Labour Party failed to adequately prepare for government before winning the general election.
In a BBC podcast interview published on July 2, 2026, McSweeney said senior party leadership lacked sufficient discussions about state transformation and readiness for office after being out of power since the 1990s.
This lack of preparation contributed to institutional turmoil that culminated in Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's resignation after just two years in office.
“I think that we didn’t prepare enough for what kind of world we were going to be in,” McSweeney told the BBC's Political Thinking with Nick Robinson podcast.
He explained that the government assumed power without a concrete operational blueprint to reform an out-of-shape state structure and deliver immediate changes for the public.
“We are now in a very different era than when Labour was last in government, and 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, how the state needed to be reformed, because in lots of ways the state is really out of shape and is unable to deliver for people,” McSweeney said.
The former strategist, who previously maintained a private profile, said he decided to speak publicly to formally close his chapter in political strategy and transition to a new phase of his life.
“I need to move on to a new chapter in my life, and to do that, I need to close the old one, and to make clear that that’s happening,” he said.
McSweeney previously answered questions before the Foreign Affairs Committee in April 2026 regarding his involvement in appointing Lord Peter Mandelson as the United States ambassador.
“I loved working for Labour Party and for a Labour Government. It was an incredible privilege,” he said.
McSweeney also addressed his increasing public visibility, which conflicted with his traditional behind-the-scenes role managing national election campaigns.
“I loved managing election campaigns, and that means that you don’t have a public voice, and you should not be a visible character.
That didn’t work out well for me,” he said.
“I became more and more visible the longer I stayed in the job, but I thought I needed to become a bit more public to let people know who I am, and to close a chapter on the past,” he added.
