In the evening sunshine on the House of Commons terrace last Wednesday, Keir Starmer took some of his closest aides for a drink. Just three days into the new parliamentary session, and with a successful reshuffle under their belts, they were upbeat.
Earlier, at prime minister's questions, the Labour leader had likened Rishi Sunak's government to "cowboy builders" over crumbling concrete in schools. With the government on the back foot, Labour aides couldn't believe their luck.
"It's been a good week," admitted one usually cautious adviser. "But we can't be complacent. We still have a long way to go and anything could happen." But the expectation is growing, both inside and outside the Labour party, that Starmer will be the next prime minister.
It rounded off a promising start to the new parliamentary term for Labour after a summer during which the Tories struggled to shake off the narrative that they are in meltdown. The day before MPs returned, Starmer met his closest team to put his finishing touches to the reshuffle. The next morning, he gathered his chief of staff, Sue Gray, on her first day in the job; Alan Campbell, the chief whip; Luke Sullivan, his political director; and Jill Cuthbertson, the leader of his office.
The reshuffle was viewed by many as a return of the Blairites, with half a dozen Blair-era former ministers and advisers - including Liz Kendall and Peter Kyle getting top jobs.
Bu hikaye The Guardian Weekly dergisinin September 15, 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye The Guardian Weekly dergisinin September 15, 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Democracy Comes Under Scrutiny Amid Battle To Buy Basics
After 25 years, Nigeria's role as the region's police officer is in jeopardy, with its people losing faith in a squeezed economy
Civil War And Bloodshed? Conviction Infuriates Trump's Base
The posts are ominous. “Pick a side, or YOU are next,” wrote conservative talk show host Dan Bongino on the Truth Social media platform in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s 34 felony convictions.
'Forever War' Risk Grows As Militants Return To Gaza's North
Israel could inherit an insurgency, warns the US, after Hamas regains strength in areas it was forced to flee
A stranger for ever A family's struggles after the second world war are intimately captured across continents and generations
Here are some of the events that are not described in Claire Messud's ambitious novel about the lives of three generations of a Franco-Algerian family: the Algerian war of independence, as a result of which the Cassar family lose their home and national identity; the two years the family's most promising scion spends as a student in Paris, during which he endures something (racist bullying? Mental collapse?) that blights his adult life; his sister's broken-hearted suicide attempt; the courtship of a couple who have been held up throughout the novel as exemplars of married love and yet whose relationship - as we discover in the final pages - was shockingly transgressive.
Concrete comfort
China's 'lying flat' generation is drawn to seek spiritual solace among the brutalist blocks of the exclusive Aranya resort by innovative architecture and the power of social media
MONEY MONEY MONEY
TAYLOR SWIFT'S NEW ALBUM, The Tortured Poets Department, is not one of her best.
MY SECRET GERMAN GRANDAD
Women who 'fraternised' with German prisoners of war horrified British society. Could one of these illicit liaisons explain a mystery at the heart of Leo Hickman's family tree?
Sheinbaum signals hope, but can she pursue her own agenda?
A month ago in Chiapas, a Mexican state caught in a bloody battle between criminal groups, a car carrying the front runner to be the country's next president was stopped by a group of masked men.
Score draw Why anime is firing up young sports stars
The Bournemouth footballer Dominic Solanke twice thought he had scored the opening goal in a Premier League game against Brentford last month.
Kingmaker How will Meloni use her growing influence on EU politics?
Italy's far-right leader has so far been a model European. But this weekend's EU elections may reveal her hand