Welcome back! Did you miss us? With everyone now back to school, it’s time to assess once again who’s top and who’s not in the wonderful world of Westminster.
Flying high: Labour’s digital media team
A busy week for Labour’s digital team who are clearly getting themselves match-fit for next year’s general election.
The shadow cabinet reshuffle provided the opportunity to further embed Labour’s projection as a government-in-waiting with a series of N0.10-esque tweets announcing each new Shadow Secretary of State.
They then very quickly turned around a series of graphics that brutally mocked the tone-deaf reaction from the Department for Education over the RAAC crisis. Not only were they funny, shareable and topical, but they also went straight to the heart of the fears and frustrations of millions of parents across the UK.
And finally - in what has clearly been in the planning for a while - Labour marked the anniversary of Truss’s premiership by pointing out that the famous lettuce would now cost 20% more, brilliantly reminding the public of the doomed Truss regime but also highlighting the ongoing inflation challenge and the cost-of-living crisis.
What is especially impressive about these different digital campaigns is not only quality of them and the potential for them to go viral, but also the blend of the long-planned (the one-year Truss-a-versary) but also the topical that requires a very quick turnaround (Keegan/Jaws).
Middle ranking: Lisa Nandy
With Starmer in an increasingly strong political position, he used this week’s reshuffle to make some significant changes. With no prospect of a serious leadership challenge and no imminent politically tricky votes, Starmer’s political authority meant that any Labour MP with any ambition of entering government had to take a ‘like it or lump it’ approach to the reshuffle - hence Lisa Nandy accepting a demotion and Rosena Allin-Khan leaving the frontbench altogether.
The theme of this reshuffle is the return of serious, experienced politicians and their appointment to positions of considerable influence in a future Labour government. The cabinet office is hugely important in government; vital for taking forward political objectives and getting things done. It therefore makes sense to see experienced political operators like Pat McFadden and Jon Ashworth – all of whom have huge government experience under the last Labour administration – become shadow cabinet office ministers. Combined with Sue Gray starting as Starmer’s new Chief of Staff and the return of the experienced Hilary Benn, this is a Labour team designed to make things happen.
Slowly sinking: Gillian Keegan
Who else could it be in a week to forget for the Education Secretary.
With the school RAAC crisis continuing, Keegan was already under pressure for a lack of transparency, a lack of communication and a lack of action. Then she managed to walk herself straight into a classic political beartrap of her own making.
From John Major and “the three bastards” to Gordon Brown and “that bigoted woman”, hot mics continue to be the bane of even the most experienced of politicians.
But as embarrassing as it was for the Education Secretary to be caught on film swearing after she thought her interview had finished, the more politically damaging aspect was the sense that she was completely out of touch with the mood of the country; especially parents that are worried about their children’s schools collapsing. This is an emotive issue that is touching millions of parents and the lack of transparency over which schools are affected means that this political crisis is far from contained.