Labour's ‘clusterf--- of Godzilla proportions' ... so whose head will roll?

Telegraph

01-07-2025

The benefits reforms passed in the House of Commons on Tuesday are a pale imitation of the package first announced by the Government in March.
Two significant concessions to rebels by Sir Keir Starmer have shaved billions off the savings the Bill was estimated to make from tightening up benefit rules.
The claimants his Work and Pensions Secretary once said were 'taking the Mickey' out of the system will not see any change to their entitlement, and new claimants will be accepted under the existing rules until at least autumn 2026.
The revolt of dozens of Labour MPs has left Sir Keir with an angry party, far fewer reforms than he hoped, and a black hole in the public finances worth billions of pounds.
'It makes the entire thing a total clusterf--- of Godzilla proportions,' said one MP on Tuesday night.
'Only the Gods know how this cobbled-together Bill does anything it's supposed to anymore.'
A morose minister added: 'Today is not a good day.'
Downing Street is expected to make some changes to its operation as a result of the carnage. Labour rebels are divided on who is responsible for the debacle. But the list of those in the dock is lengthy.
Sir Keir Starmer
Some Labour MPs say the Prime Minister himself is responsible for the failure to keep his party in line.
They argue that it has been clear since March, when the plans were first announced by Liz Kendall, the Work and Pensions Secretary, that they were never going to fly with the Labour backbenchers.
Sir Keir has been accused of failing to keep in touch with his MPs, refusing to attend the Commons for votes, and trying to railroad his party into backing reforms without first earning their loyalty.
'Talking to colleagues and backbenchers, he has been very absent,' one minister said. 'This has been a problem all along.'
There are few in the party who would call for Sir Keir to stand down – even privately – but there is a sense among MPs that he must take overall responsibility for mismanaging one of the most important policies of his administration so far.
He worsened the situation at the weekend, when he told The Sunday Times that the rebellion had only been allowed to grow because he was too concentrated on what was happening in the Middle East.
'There's a lot of resentment in the party towards Keir,' one Labour MP admitted.
Rachel Reeves
The self-described 'Iron Chancellor' is also receiving a lot of flak from Labour insiders as the politician who most resisted making changes to the welfare reforms.
When the original 'wrecking' amendment emerged early last week, insiders say it was Ms Reeves who urged No10 to hold off on making any concessions.
But that strategy only enraged MPs more, blowing the rebellion up into a crisis and triggering talk of an existential challenge for Sir Keir.
In the end, she was visiting a JCB factory when the decision was made to concede and let existing benefit claimants keep their entitlement.
The fact she was not in the room when a fresh hole was blown in her Budget does not bode well for the Chancellor.
Ms Reeves is now in an unenviable position. She will have to increase taxes significantly later in the year to account for a total shortfall of about £40bn – including about £3bn created by these about-turns on welfare policy.
That will only make her more unpopular with the public, and there are now few Labour MPs who would go out and defend her.
Liz Kendall
The Work and Pensions Secretary was not a popular figure among the Labour faithful before taking office last July, having finished fourth in her run for the party leadership in 2015.
She is viewed as a Blairite, and while her politics matches the more Right-leaning instincts of Sir Keir and his advisers, she has not broken into the clique of senior ministers who receive greater access to the Prime Minister, insiders say.
Since the beginning of the year, Ms Kendall has been given the 'hospital pass' of implementing Labour's welfare reforms – a much-needed brake on the relentless increase of Britain's social security budget.
Back in March, the proposals leaked to the media before they could be properly 'pitch-rolled' by Downing Street, stoking an almighty row with Left-wing backbenchers.
MPs then claimed the Bill was rushed and poorly drafted, allowing senior Labour figures including Dame Meg Hillier, the chairman of the Treasury select committee, to rip them apart.
There was a curious sense of history repeating itself on Tuesday, as Labour old-timers remembered the biggest rebellion of Sir Tony Blair's first premiership, when 47 MPs voted against changes to lone parent benefit.
His social security secretary was Baroness Harman, who had employed Ms Kendall as a special adviser to manage her relationship with MPs and the press.
Morgan McSweeney
The Irish svengali at the heart of the Downing Street operation was blamed, as usual, when something went seriously wrong with one of Sir Keir's flagship policies.
Mr McSweeney is widely regarded as a campaigning genius, but his critics say he would be better deployed in a more political role at Labour headquarters, than running the nexus of government as Downing Street chief of staff.
On Tuesday morning, Sir Keir was forced to tell the Cabinet to stop briefing against his closest adviser, after negative stories about McSweeney reached a fever pitch at the weekend.
'We will not resile from our record of achievement and we will not turn on our staff – including our chief of staff – without whom none of us would be sitting around this cabinet table,' he told ministers, according to The Times.
Speaking to The Telegraph, one minister said Mr McSweeney was responsible for the 'woeful' management of MPs and had 'been in a bunker with his head down'.
Many MPs say they don't know Mr McSweeney, but think of him as a sinister and arrogant figure, controlling the Government from the inside. His supporters say he attracts criticism and media coverage simply because he is better known than his colleagues.
Claire Reynolds
On paper, it is easiest to blame Claire Reynolds for the disastrous 'political management' of the backbenchers in the lead-up to Tuesday's vote.
The little-known Downing Street appointee is responsible for liaising between Labour MPs and the Government, suggesting ways for the Cabinet to engage with the party and, in short, keeping everyone happy.
But the failure to persuade MPs that they should remain loyal to No10 was the most significant issue for Sir Keir in passing his reforms, which now lie in tatters.
'They now have a smoking ruin of a Bill that they've had to shred to head off a rebellion,' one Labour MP said.
'How did a 100-plus majority come to this?'
Some MPs say they have never met or spoken to Ms Reynolds, a former Labour official (and wife of Jonathan Reynolds, the Business Secretary) who is in charge with assuaging their concerns.
One Labour rebel said that simply being invited into Downing Street occasionally might have made them less likely to vote against the Government – which she could have organised.