Sizing up Whitehall: a Labour reshuffle must focus on potential ministers

ture ministers rather than just cheerleaders, and most appointments ought to be framed in that context.

BEINGleader of the opposition can be frustrating. There is relatively little power in your hands: the government sets the parliamentary agenda and shapes the media’s priorities, you are unlikely to win votes in the House of Commons and you are usually reacting to events rather than creating a narrative. But you have a much freer hand over appointments to your top team, which is why opposition leaders are so fond of carrying out reshuffles.

The whisper currently on the hot, stale air of Westminster is that Sir Keir Starmer will soon reshuffle his shadow cabinet. It will probably take place after the trio of by-elections which will happen on 20 July, in which Labour are expected to do well, and the party’s National Policy Forum, its internal synod, which takes place that weekend. By then, the general election is likely to be not much more than a year away, so it is the last convenient opportunity for Starmer to put in place the line-up which, broadly, he wants to take into government.

The last major changes were made in November 2021, and Whitehall has been reshaped since then, which Starmer will want to reflect. There has also been a decent period of time to assess who is performing well and who is not: Yvette Cooper has been an effective and tough shadow home secretary, matching first Priti Patel and now Suella Braverman in grim-faced determination; Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, has shone brightly enough to be seen as a future leader; and Bridget Phillipson has sounded rational, humane and on top of her education brief.

Starmer has been dogged from the beginning by what to do with Angela Rayner. She was the party’s choice as deputy leader, not his, and she is a useful political brawler with an every- woman appeal and a licence to overstep boundaries once in a while. But her brief runs from the administrative grind of the Cabinet Office to the blue skies of “the future of work”, and even her most loyal supporters would not claim either of these play to her strengths.

Some shadow ministers may be looking at exciting opportunities on the back benches. David Lammy has made little impact in foreign affairs, especially noticeable when the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has been cutting a statesman’s dash around the world, and there have been too many gaffes and mishaps. Lucy Powell, at culture, landed a few blows on the Johnson-loving piñata which was Nadine Dorries, but has lacked conviction in the ongoing Woke Wars. And there is a creeping sense that fondness for a former leader may have led to the overestimation of Ed Miliband in the vital energy brief.

Starmer needs a team which is ready for a gruelling general election campaign, because he knows that the government’s poll slump owes little to enthusiasm for Labour. But he will also be aware that he is now looking for fu-