One of Keir Starmer’s cabinet ministers has said he stands for “respect and hard work”, after a new book claimed his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, described him as an “HR manager” rather than a leader.
Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, said Starmer’s plan for change was clear and defended him, after the book by two journalists, Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund, suggested some of those in his inner circle are not entirely convinced by his leadership qualities.
An extract from the book, published in the Sunday Times, reported that McSweeney had described Starmer as “like an HR manager, not a leader”, a claim made in the new book Get In. According to the newspaper, McSweeney voiced fears in private that the prime minister might be too timid.
A government source denied that McSweeney had described him as such and suggested anonymous briefings about Starmer should not be taken seriously.
The book also carried quotes from an unnamed member of Starmer’s inner circle referring to the driverless Docklands Light Railway (DLR), saying: “Keir’s not driving the train. He thinks he’s driving the train, but we’ve sat him at the front of the DLR.”
Cooper told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “I think what you see with Keir Starmer is a real determination to change the country.
“It’s why he set out the plan for change with clear action, clear things that he’s determined to change across the country.”
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The plan for change is a set of six objectives, including a target to build 1.5m homes in England, achieve at least 95% clean power by 2030, and meet the NHS standard of 92% of patients in England waiting no longer than 18 weeks for planned procedures.
Cooper added: “Do you know what I think he stands for most? It is actually about respect and hard work, and making the country work for working people.”
McSweeney was brought back in to be Starmer’s chief of staff after the ousting of the former senior civil servant Sue Gray, who had taken on the role for only a year. He had previously been chief of staff, before becoming campaign director at the election, when he was widely credited with masterminding a victory in which the party accrued enough votes in crucial marginal seats to win a decisive landslide.
The book also claimed that Starmer employed an actor, Leonie Mellinger, to be a voice coach during the pandemic. The Conservatives wrote to Starmer on Sunday claiming that Mellinger should not have got a designated “key worker” status at the time, arguing it was reserved for essential delivery of the Covid public response.
