UK Labour streamlines HQ as party staff move into government

The Labour Party is streamlining its headquarters in an organisational overhaul prompted by a large number of staff moving into government jobs.

In an email sent to party staff on Thursday, seen by Holyrood's sister publication PoliticsHome, Labour General Secretary David Evans set out details of "the new organisation structure" that will see policy and communications combined, headed by a new executive director – a job for which he said Labour will advertise shortly.

Under the new structure the media and communications, attack and rebuttal, external relations, briefings, policy development and international teams will all "come together in one directorate".

The email states that the current Labour head of field will stay in post, with an added function of campaign management and innovation. A senior management team has been appointed to this new function. 

"The main area of organisational change has been those functions where large numbers of colleagues have left with immediate effect to work for the Labour government either in the political office or the civil service," the email reads.

"We recognise the impact this has had on colleagues who remained and we have worked hard to rectify this position quickly to ensure that effective communication channels have been put in place."

The promise of "effective communication channels" comes after complaints from Labour staff that they have been left out in the cold after the party won the general election two weeks ago.

One staffer described getting only "radio silence" from party directors "from Friday morning onwards" after polling day on 4 July, and "people having no idea what’s happening beyond the occasional generic internal comms email".

"The issue isn’t structure, it’s basic communication about what will happen to individual jobs," they said. "Lots of people didn’t know who had gone into No 10/government until they just figured it out based on process of elimination."

The staffer added that "the focus needs to be rebuilding trust with party staff who have been incredibly burned by the handling of post-general election staffing... especially when you need these people to deliver you a good conference in a few months’ time".

Another party staffer similarly complained of Labour "freezing out" those not being offered jobs in 10 Downing Street, with senior figures ignoring requests for information about their positions.

A Labour source told PoliticsHome: "Our incredible staff made history and delivered a Labour government, which has put politics back in the service of working people and is delivering change for this great country. 

"Following the election, many members of the team have moved into government roles, meaning changes to the HQ operation. This will allow the party to support the government on delivering its mission of national renewal."

They added: "We are closely supporting staff that are impacted by the changes and explaining the options available to them in roles across the organisation."

After the election, Labour created a portal – workforlabourplp.org.uk – where people seeking jobs with MPs can submit their CV, which will be vetted by an external company. The Parliamentary Labour Party Office will then "recommend the best possible applicants from a range of backgrounds to parliamentarians", according to the website.

Supporters of the initiative said it would be helpful for existing staff who need to find a new job after the election, but sceptics complained that it could be used for factional purposes.

In a group chat for members of the GMB union last week, one staffer raising concerns called the new process a "slippery slope", while another said they thought it was "a massive problem having the party involved themselves in the recruitment of what are in essence public sector positions".

"It’s not the external recruitment company that worries me, it’s the PLP [Parliamentary Labour Party] recommendations," the staffer wrote.

"It’s one thing for party factionalism to develop within party structures, but we absolutely shouldn’t support any prospect of that factionalism influencing the recruitment of staff using public money."

The party says the website is there to only guide Labour MPs on recruitment, and that MPs are expected to hire their own staff as normal.