Lucy Powell has called for a “change of culture” inside Keir Starmer’s Downing Street to make it more inclusive and better connected to MPs, promising that as Labour’s deputy leader she would when needed deliver difficult truths to the prime minister.
Speaking to the Guardian after she secured 117 MP nominations in the battle to replace Angela Rayner, Powell said a sequence of what she called “unforced errors” by the government had left many Labour MPs and members frustrated.
Powell now faces a vote of party members against Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, who reached 175 endorsements and is viewed as No 10’s preferred choice to take on the role.
Powell was Commons leader until she was sacked from the government in last week’s reshuffle, a decision she said was a complete shock, and for which she had as yet received no explanation.
She said she believed it could be because she sometimes passed on MPs’ concerns to Downing Street, and that if elected she would hope to continue such a “shop steward” role, making the government less factional and closed-off.
“We need some change, and we do need a change of culture, especially how we’re going about making decisions, and how we’re going about including people,” she said.
“I really, really want this Labour government to succeed, and we’re at our best when we use all the talents that we’ve got, all the voices that we’ve got, the experience that we’ve got, to make better decisions and have fewer unforced errors, mistakes that are really frustrating people.
“We’ve got a bit of a groupthink happening at the top, that culture of not being receptive to interrogation, not being receptive to differing views. But it’s a show of strength, a show of being effective, when you are receptive to interrogation and accountability and differing views, and then you come to better decisions.”
Concerns about a seemingly clique-ridden and unresponsive Downing Street operation are common among Labour MPs, and while some blame senior No 10 staff such as Morgan McSweeney, Powell said Starmer must also take responsibility.
Asked if he had a part in this, she said: “Culture is set at the top, of course it is.” Powell said, however, that her aim was to be constructive, and help avoid errors such as the U-turn over changes to disability benefits and winter fuel payments, and the initial defence of Peter Mandelson before he was sacked as UK ambassador to Washington.
“What I don’t want to do is stand at the sidelines, filling the airwaves with criticism of the government,” she said. “I really want this government to succeed, but I’m not afraid to speak truth where that truth needs to be spoken. In the main, I would hope to do that within the family – and let’s have a broad family.
“People are frustrated at the moment. There are issues, no doubt about that. I want to make sure that our MPs and our Labour members feel proud and enthused with what this government is doing, so they can be the best champions for it they can be.
“I think that to do that, we need to be more inclusive, we need to respect and take on board the broad church that is the Labour party.”
Reaching the members’ ballot caps a tumultuous week for Powell, who lost her job in the reshuffle prompted by Rayner’s resignation over the underpayment of stamp duty.
She said MPs’ reaction to her sacking had prompted her to think she should stand, saying a number asked if she could somehow continue her liaison role within the backbenches.
She said: “I thought, actually, it’s probably going to be only me or someone being backed by the machine of the leadership that can get on the ballot here. So I think I’m going to have to put myself forward.”
Returning to the subject of whether her occasional relaying of MPs’ views to No 10 had played a role in leaving the cabinet, she said: “No one has given me that feedback, and I have asked for it. I’d try and feed back concerns, and try and feed back the mood, and maybe that wasn’t received well.”
