Keir Starmer has appointed a former aide to Tony Blair and Gordon Brown as his new political director in Downing Street. The prime minister has given the senior role to Claire Reynolds, the director of Labour Women’s Network, who was credited with helping get 100 new female MPs elected this summer. Reynolds, who is also the wife of the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, will have to handle the sensitive task of liaising with Labour’s 403 MPs during what are likely to be a difficult first few years in power. A Labour source said: “We couldn’t have someone better qualified than Claire to be leading relationships between No 10, the Labour party and our politicians. Claire’s been a candidate, councillor, adviser and organiser, building a fantastic network across the party, and she has supported hundreds, particularly women, to achieve their full potential in the party.”
Reynolds’ job is part of a wider Downing Street shake-up that Starmer has overseen after removing Sue Gray as his chief of staff. Gray’s position has been taken by Starmer’s long-term ally Morgan McSweeney, who is now being supported by two deputy chiefs of staff. One of those, Vidhya Alakeson, was the political director until her promotion. As the head of Labour Women’s Network, Reynolds trained hundreds of women for roles at different levels of government and as Labour candidates. She previously worked in No 10 under Brown and Blair. As well as working as a Labour councillor, she has also served as a European election candidate, a chair of school governors and the national secretary of Labour Students. In her new role, which is paid for by the Labour party, she will be in charge of maintaining good relations across the parliamentary party, even as Starmer announces a series of unpopular decisions that he says are necessary to repair public services. The first test of her ability to manage those fraught relations is likely to come this week as the chancellor prepares to unveil billions of pounds of tax rises and spending cuts as part of Labour’s first budget in 15 years.