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Sir Keir Starmer is stepping up the hiring of figures from the New Labour era as he turns to trusted party veterans with experience of navigating the machinery of government.
The UK prime minister has in recent weeks approved the return of several party grandees into government roles, including former ministers and officials who served under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown between 1997 and 2010.
Despite the infamous rivalry between Blairites and Brownites during the last Labour government, Starmer has embraced figures from both camps.
These include economist Dan Corry, the former head of the No 10 policy unit under Brown, who has been selected to lead an internal review into environmental regulation, officials told the Financial Times.
Corry, who led think-tank New Philanthropy Capital until earlier this year, will examine Ofwat, Natural England and the Environment Agency, among other regulators, with a view to putting economic growth at the heart of the Department for Environment’s regulatory landscape.
Last week Starmer announced that Jonathan Powell, Blair’s former chief of staff in Downing Street, would become his special envoy for negotiations between the UK and Mauritius over the future of the British Indian Ocean Territory.
The government is also finalising the appointment of Alan Milburn, former health secretary under Blair, for a role in his old department, with details expected in the coming weeks.
On Sunday, health secretary Wes Streeting confirmed that he had been receiving advice from Milburn, praising his “track record of delivering rapid NHS improvement”.
Paul Corrigan, a former health adviser to Blair, is already back in the fold working on Streeting’s 10-year plan for the NHS.
Lord Ara Darzi, a surgeon and former Labour health minister under Brown who was a UK global ambassador for health and life sciences under former Tory prime minister David Cameron, has undertaken a wide-ranging review of the NHS — set to be published on Thursday.
Michael Ellam, a senior HSBC executive and Brown’s former Downing Street spokesman, is also said by Labour insiders to be discussing a return to a government role. Ellam declined to comment.
In the wake of complaints from across the political divide about the difficulty of delivering policy in government, analysts say it makes sense for Starmer to enlist trusted party figures who have experience of the Whitehall system and can hit the ground running.
However, the prime minister has been warned not to rely on outdated policy solutions or fall back into ways of thinking synonymous with New Labour that may no longer be relevant.
Karl Pike, a senior lecturer in public policy at Queen Mary University of London, said: “There’s an obvious benefit if committed Labour people with experience of trying to get things done in office, who know how to make the system work, want to return to government.”
However, Pike, who used to work for Yvette Cooper, now home secretary, said the risk was replaying “the battles of the New Labour period”, for example, on the use of targets to drive improvements in public services.
Foreign policy and diplomacy is another area where Starmer is looking to tap the expertise of party veterans.
Former foreign secretary David Miliband is touted by Labour insiders as a leading contender to become the next UK ambassador to Washington.
Labour peers and former frontbenchers Lord Peter Mandelson and Baroness Catherine Ashton — both former EU trade commissioners — have also been tipped as possible candidates for the role, the most senior overseas appointment in the UK diplomatic service.
Tom Fletcher, who was a foreign policy adviser to Blair, Brown and Cameron and a former ambassador to Lebanon, is yet another figure who has been tipped for a possible return to government.
Starmer has already promoted several Blair and Brown lieutenants to his front bench team.
Blair’s former political secretary Pat McFadden is now the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, tasked with delivering on Starmer’s five core missions for government.
McFadden is one of the four members of the “quad” — alongside Starmer, chancellor Rachel Reeves and deputy prime minister Angela Rayner — who are the most senior members of the government.
The general election marked the return to the Commons of former Brown protégé and cabinet minister Douglas Alexander, who has been appointed a minister for trade and economic security.
Starmer has also handed a peerage to Baroness Jacqui Smith, who was the first female home secretary under Brown, in order to appoint her skills minister.
