Keir Starmer puts Treasury manpower in No 10 at expense of Reeves
Keir Starmer has made a series of new appointments that point to his drive to bolster No10’s focus on the UK economy at the expense of the Treasury.
Starmer has given Darren Jones the newly-created position of chief secretary to the prime minister after he previously served as the chief secretary to the Treasury.
In his previous role, he was tasked with scrutinising spending across the government and looking to make operations more efficient.
Keir Starmer is also replacing his principal private secretary Nin Pandit, a senior civil service role, with Dan York-Smith, who previously oversaw tax and welfare policy at the Treasury.
Starmer’s team will also be boosted by the arrival of Baroness Minouche Shafik, the former Bank of England deputy governor and deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund, as his chief economics adviser.
No10 director of communications James Lyons will leave while Tim Allan, the former adviser to Tony Blair who founded the communications agency Portland, will become the government’s executive director of communications.
Starmer is also moving some policy advisers around and re-asserting individual responsibilities as part of an effort to take control of policymaking.
Keir Starmer takes greater control of autumn Budget
Jones’ appointment is one of the most senior changes Starmer has made since Sue Gray was ousted as No10’s chief of staff.
The ministerial shake-up means Treasury minister James Murray will take up Jones’ position as chief secretary to the Treasury.
The Labour MP Daniel Tomlinson will become tax minister, filling the position previously held by Murray.
Rachel Reeves has meanwhile appointed John Van Reenen, the economist who chaired the Chancellor’s Council of Economic Advisers, as a growth adviser in an unpaid role for 12 months.
It comes just a week after the New Statesman reported that pensions minister and former Resolution Foundation chief executive Torsten Bell would play a leading role in Budget preparations.
The Labour government is under intense pressure to deliver a Budget that avoids harming growth although tax rises worth at least £20bn are widely expected in order to make up for shortfalls in public finances.
Reeves’ position as Chancellor is also under scrutiny as the majority of voters back her sacking, according to a new poll.