Who is in charge? The prime minister’s authority is in question again

by | Jul 19, 2025 | Politics

2 hours agoShareSaveLaura KuenssbergPresenter, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg•@bbclaurakShareSaveBBCWho is in charge? You might think the answer should be obvious.”This government should be walking on water, there should be nothing it can’t do,” a Whitehall insider suggests, given the rows and rows and rows – and yes, rows – of Labour MPs who line up behind the prime minister every Wednesday.But, by booting out a small band of backbenchers this week, Sir Keir Starmer’s put the question of his authority back on the table.Answering the question of who is in charge isn’t so simple after all.This government has a “backbench they – and we – are surprised to discover they can’t control,” says one senior official.The financial markets are breathing down its neck, with the country’s debts sky high, and for good measure, what a No 10 source describes as a “deep current of instability” around the world.Sir Keir’s next one-to-one meeting with President Donald Trump is a case in point – who knows what he will or won’t say alongside the prime minister on Scottish soil next week?No-one in government can be sure how that is going to shake down, although I was very definitively told we will not be seeing Sir Keir swinging a club with his transatlantic pal.It is, of course, impossible for any administration to be the master of all it surveys. But convincingly displaying authority, inhabiting its power, is a different task.And neither all of Sir Keir’s MPs, nor all of the people inside the government are sure it’s being met.Backbench bust-upsLeon Neal/PA WireLet’s start with the prime minister kicking out four MPs this week after they had objected to various Labour plans and proposals.But if Sir Keir really felt in control of his party, why did he need to bother about a group of MPs that wouldn’t even fill a family saloon? And why did he do it, just days before accepting some of the logic of one of those he kicked out, Chris Hinchcliff, over tweaks to proposed planning laws?Bemused? You wouldn’t be the only one.Sir Keir’s allies say he always believed there would have to be repercussions for MPs who plot against the government repeatedly, in part because others are asked to defend decisions that might be unpopular or difficult.So after the welfare fiasco, the whips were asked to make a list of those who had been actively trying to organise resistance to government plans, rather than just expressing objections.After gathering evidence about MPs’ behaviour, those four were then shown the door, at least for now, to exert discipline over the backbenches.A senior government figure said: “You can have as big a majority as you want, but if you have no discipline whatsoever it can get chaotic. You can’t get chaotic at a time when the country desperately needs its government to get on with things.”It was a separate decision to suspend Diane Abbott – again, a choice made by Labour HQ who felt it had no choice but to act, interpreting her comments as repeating a claim that Jewish people don’t experience racism in the same way as black people.So, “behave – or else”, is the message to the rest of the backbenches, just when they are about to leave Westminster.But have the moves this week made a difference? One senior MP said: “A lot of people keep wondering, ‘Is Keir beholden to his back benches?’ I don’t think people are like, ‘Oh we’re going to rebel if we’re unhappy all the time’. But there has to be more respect for MPs who are actually out talking to their constituents.”Another senior Labour figure told me, “No 10 was completely spooked by what happened over welfare – I don’t think backbenchers are running it, but they do have a taste for power.”Are ministers the masters?Who then, is really in charge, I ask a member of the government. They laugh, and say, “I don’t have an answer”.The same question posed to another Whitehall figure: “There is no way of knowing,” they respond, suggesting sometimes government, even 12 months in, feels chaotic, with contradictory instructions to officials being given, even on the same day.It’s no secret, and it’s not surprising, that working out how to run a country when you haven’t done it before is hard.There are plenty of ministers and staffers who will of course say loyally that No 10 is now firmly in control after understandable teething troubles, who are also somewhat fed up with the noises off.As one government source reckons, “a bit of loyalty wouldn’t go amiss”. Another insider believes Whitehall is working much better than before. “In the first six months they were disappointed in us, and we were disappointed with them”.The Spending Review process occupied huge amounts of time and effort across government. Now that is over, it’s not just the government’s purse strings that have been set, but the political priorities alongside. In theory, as that source suggests, “they are now starting to get on with the doing”.Dan K …

Article Attribution | Read More at Article Source

[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nn2 hours agoShareSaveLaura KuenssbergPresenter, Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg•@bbclaurakShareSaveBBCWho is in charge? You might think the answer should be obvious.”This government should be walking on water, there should be nothing it can’t do,” a Whitehall insider suggests, given the rows and rows and rows – and yes, rows – of Labour MPs who line up behind the prime minister every Wednesday.But, by booting out a small band of backbenchers this week, Sir Keir Starmer’s put the question of his authority back on the table.Answering the question of who is in charge isn’t so simple after all.This government has a “backbench they – and we – are surprised to discover they can’t control,” says one senior official.The financial markets are breathing down its neck, with the country’s debts sky high, and for good measure, what a No 10 source describes as a “deep current of instability” around the world.Sir Keir’s next one-to-one meeting with President Donald Trump is a case in point – who knows what he will or won’t say alongside the prime minister on Scottish soil next week?No-one in government can be sure how that is going to shake down, although I was very definitively told we will not be seeing Sir Keir swinging a club with his transatlantic pal.It is, of course, impossible for any administration to be the master of all it surveys. But convincingly displaying authority, inhabiting its power, is a different task.And neither all of Sir Keir’s MPs, nor all of the people inside the government are sure it’s being met.Backbench bust-upsLeon Neal/PA WireLet’s start with the prime minister kicking out four MPs this week after they had objected to various Labour plans and proposals.But if Sir Keir really felt in control of his party, why did he need to bother about a group of MPs that wouldn’t even fill a family saloon? And why did he do it, just days before accepting some of the logic of one of those he kicked out, Chris Hinchcliff, over tweaks to proposed planning laws?Bemused? You wouldn’t be the only one.Sir Keir’s allies say he always believed there would have to be repercussions for MPs who plot against the government repeatedly, in part because others are asked to defend decisions that might be unpopular or difficult.So after the welfare fiasco, the whips were asked to make a list of those who had been actively trying to organise resistance to government plans, rather than just expressing objections.After gathering evidence about MPs’ behaviour, those four were then shown the door, at least for now, to exert discipline over the backbenches.A senior government figure said: “You can have as big a majority as you want, but if you have no discipline whatsoever it can get chaotic. You can’t get chaotic at a time when the country desperately needs its government to get on with things.”It was a separate decision to suspend Diane Abbott – again, a choice made by Labour HQ who felt it had no choice but to act, interpreting her comments as repeating a claim that Jewish people don’t experience racism in the same way as black people.So, “behave – or else”, is the message to the rest of the backbenches, just when they are about to leave Westminster.But have the moves this week made a difference? One senior MP said: “A lot of people keep wondering, ‘Is Keir beholden to his back benches?’ I don’t think people are like, ‘Oh we’re going to rebel if we’re unhappy all the time’. But there has to be more respect for MPs who are actually out talking to their constituents.”Another senior Labour figure told me, “No 10 was completely spooked by what happened over welfare – I don’t think backbenchers are running it, but they do have a taste for power.”Are ministers the masters?Who then, is really in charge, I ask a member of the government. They laugh, and say, “I don’t have an answer”.The same question posed to another Whitehall figure: “There is no way of knowing,” they respond, suggesting sometimes government, even 12 months in, feels chaotic, with contradictory instructions to officials being given, even on the same day.It’s no secret, and it’s not surprising, that working out how to run a country when you haven’t done it before is hard.There are plenty of ministers and staffers who will of course say loyally that No 10 is now firmly in control after understandable teething troubles, who are also somewhat fed up with the noises off.As one government source reckons, “a bit of loyalty wouldn’t go amiss”. Another insider believes Whitehall is working much better than before. “In the first six months they were disappointed in us, and we were disappointed with them”.The Spending Review process occupied huge amounts of time and effort across government. Now that is over, it’s not just the government’s purse strings that have been set, but the political priorities alongside. In theory, as that source suggests, “they are now starting to get on with the doing”.Dan K …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]