By historic standards, Keir Starmer’s cabinet has been striking for its unity. The defining struggle in the government’s first 100 days – Sue Gray vs Morgan McSweeney – came within No 10 itself. But over the weekend a new threshold was crossed.
For the first time, Downing Street publicly rebuked a cabinet minister. “Louise Haigh’s comments were her own personal views and did not represent the views of the government,” a No 10 spokesperson said of the Transport Secretary (who I interviewed earlier this year).
The riposte was prompted by an ITV interview last Wednesday in which Haigh urged viewers to join her in boycotting P&O Ferries, the company excoriated for sacking 800 workers without notice in 2022. “That’s not the view of the government,” Starmer himself told the BBC, a message echoed by the Business Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, during yesterday’s morning round (“I’m happy to clarify that I speak for the government on business issues”).
This rearguard action was triggered by DP World (the owner of P&O) and its threat to cancel a planned £1bn investment in the London Gateway port. But No 10’s intervention caused consternation among Haigh’s allies. Downing Street had signed off a press release last week in which she labelled P&O a “cowboy operator” and Angela Rayner assailed the company’s “outrageous” behaviour (to coincide with the government’s ban on “fire and rehire” practices). Neither cabinet minister had been informed that DP World was planning to make a major investment or that it was due to attend the summit (a symptom, critics say, of a dysfunctional grid). In an appropriate metaphor, Starmer was accused of throwing the Transport Secretary “under the bus”.
No 10 has since emphasised that Haigh’s endorsement of a boycott was the principal issue – there has been no change in policy. Starmer has called the Transport Secretary to affirm that he has full confidence in her. And DP World has rescinded its threat to pull the investment and to boycott the government’s summit. Story over? Not quite.
In the young life of Starmer’s administration, No 10’s clash with Haigh counts as a defining moment. Past governments have often used conflict as a source of political strength – think of Margaret Thatcher’s confrontation with the trade unions or the Tories’ many feuds with “Brussels”.
Faced with DP World’s threat, Starmer might have leaned into this fight. Back in March 2022, sat next to Haigh in the Commons, the Labour leader urged Boris Johnson to suspend all government business with the company “until they reinstate the workforce” (they did not). He could, one MP suggests, have declared: “I was elected to improve conditions for working people. We will not be browbeaten by threats of this kind”.
Starmer’s decision not to take this line tells us something about the government’s economic and political strategy. First, that private investment is essential to its growth agenda – and that it will fight to attract it (even at the cost of cabinet unity). Second, that its strategy is based on consensus rather than conflict with business. Starmer would not, as Ed Miliband did in 2011, divide companies into “predators” and “producers”. Reynolds has stated that he does not regard P&O Ferries as a “rogue” operator (while noting its “particularly egregious” use of fire and rehire).
While introducing the biggest programme of workers’ rights for decades, establishing GB Energy and renationalising the railways, the government is not looking to pick fights with “fat cats”. These policies are justified in pragmatic, moderate terms as good for workers and good for business. Supporters say this is prudent government; critics that Starmer is missing an opportunity to define himself more vividly.
Haigh’s appointment as Transport Secretary was one of the more striking back in July. Both allies and sceptics had questioned whether the pink-haired 37-year-old would make it to the top table. That she did – becoming the youngest-ever female cabinet minister – was a reflection of the esteem in which Starmer holds her. The popular Labour MP (her birthday parties have become destination events) was respected for gripping her brief in opposition. If you’re good enough, you’re old enough ran Starmer’s logic.
But what of Haigh’s future? Insiders regard her as part of the cabinet’s informal “soft left” grouping alongside Angela Rayner, Ed Miliband and Lisa Nandy. This wing, some believe, will fare less well under McSweeney than it did under Gray. “My money is on demotion,” one MP supportive of Haigh says of her.
For now, the reshuffle speculation that accompanied McSweeney’s ascension has faded. But when Starmer does choose to reset his cabinet – as he has No 10 – it will be another defining moment.
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