Morgan McSweeney has become the prime minister’s chief of staff, after Sue Gray quit the role saying “intense commentary” around her position “risked becoming a distraction”.
It followed weeks of criticism and briefings against Ms Gray, who had reportedly clashed with Mr McSweeney in his role as the PM’s chief political adviser.
Downing Street will be hoping the promotion of Mr McSweeney, who masterminded Labour’s general election campaign, will help the government to move on after stories of infighting and rows over political donations.
Born in Macroom, County Cork, Mr McSweeney joined Labour under Tony Blair, working in a junior role at the party’s headquarters.
He later started working for Steve Reed, who is now environment secretary but at the time was a councillor in Lambeth, south London, where he was trying to regain control of the party from the hard left.
In 2006 Mr McSweeney helped run the party’s successful campaign to take control of the council, with Reed becoming leader.
His reputation as a skilled campaign strategist was further cemented in Barking and Dagenham, where the far-right, anti-immigrant British National Party was gaining support and hoping to win its first parliamentary seat 2010.
Mr McSweeney played a key role in the fight to defeat the BNP in the area, with a campaign which focused on local issues.
However, his campaigns were not always a success – in 2015 he ran Blairite Liz Kendall’s bid to become Labour leader, where she secured only 4.5% of votes in the contest won by Jeremy Corbyn.
In 2017, Mr McSweeney became a director of the think tank Labour Together, which opposed the direction of the party under Corbyn and went on to back Sir Keir Starmer.
He left the organisation to run Sir Keir’s 2020 leadership bid, later becoming his chief of staff, when he played a key role in removing Corbyn supporters from positions of power.
As the Labour’s campaign director, Mr McSweeney was tasked with devising the party’s strategy for July’s general election.
He has been credited with being the brains behind the campaign, which saw the party win a landslide victory.
Among the new Labour MPs to be elected was his wife, Imogen Walker, a former councillor in Lambeth who now represents Hamilton and Clyde Valley.
Now the PM’s chief of staff – one of the most important roles in Downing Street – his influence over the future direction of the government has been strengthened further.
This article was originally published at www.bbc.com
