Starmer’s spin doctor quits after Labour’s latest by-election blow
Sir Keir Starmer’s top spin doctor has quit after Labour suffered another poor by-election result in which the party lost its deposit.
Ben Nunn announced he was stepping down as the opposition leader’s director of communications, after the party trailed in fourth behind the Green Party in the Chesham and Amersham poll.
The departure of the top aide represents another blow to Sir Keir after Labour picked up 622 votes in the by-election securing just 1.6% of the vote – down from 12.9% at the last general election.
It follows the party’s crushing defeat last month when Labour lost its heartland seat of Hartlepool to the Tories, triggering bitter recriminations against the leadership.
Mr Nunn was said to be quitting to pursue other projects rather than as a direct response to the poor electoral showing, and he continued to support Sir Keir.
In his departure email to staff, Mr Nunn wrote: “I remain as convinced today as I ever have been that he will be a great prime minister and make this a better, stronger, more prosperous country.
“The decision to step down has been one of the most difficult decisions I’ve ever had to take.”
Having worked together since 2017, Mr Nunn was with Sir Keir when he was shadow Brexit secretary and helped his successful campaign in the race to replace Jeremy Corbyn as leader.
Deputy communications director Paul Ovenden is also standing down, but his departure is understood to be because of family reasons and unconnected to political events.
The by-election on Thursday saw the Conservative stronghold in Buckinghamshire fall to the Liberal Democrats.
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Davey takes hammer to ‘Tory blue wall’
The party’s newest MP Sarah Green overturned a 16,000 majority to win Chesham and Amersham by 8,028 votes, which had been Tory-held since its creation in 1974.
The Greens came in third, with Labour lagging behind in fourth.
In Mr Nunn’s leaving message, he added: “I’ve worked in politics for about six years now and in that time I’ve worked through the junior doctors’ dispute, EU referendum campaign, a leadership contest, Brexit, a general election, another leadership contest and a global pandemic.
“I’ve had the opportunity to learn and experience so much. Now is the chance for me to go forward and do something different.”
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‘By-election was a disappointing result’
Meanwhile, Conservative Party co-chair Amanda Milling has acknowledged that the humiliating defeat in Chesham and Amersham was “a warning shot”.
The HS2 rail line being built through the constituency was a major issue in the campaign, as was the proposed planning reforms that have sparked fears about building in the countryside around the seat in the Chilterns.
In the wake of the loss, Boris Johnson has denied the Tories were neglecting southern parts of England in favour of its new northern seats .
The prime minister admitted his party had suffered what was “certainly a disappointing result”, but he pointed to “particular circumstances” in the constituency.
Rishi Sunak will try to convince the public he is the person to “fundamentally change the country” and fix Westminster’s “broken system” – despite the fact his party has been in government for 13 years.
In his speech to the Tory Party conference, the prime minister will present himself as a reformer who is prepared to take difficult decisions, unlike opponents, who take “the easy decision, not the right one”.
Mr Sunak will tell the conference hall that politics “doesn’t work the way it should” and that his Labour opponent, Sir Keir Starmer, is “betting on voters’ apathy.”
The speech will round off what has been a chaotic four days at the party’s annual conference in Manchester – an event that has been overshadowed by the announcement that the northern leg of HS2 will not go ahead as originally envisioned.
Instead, services will run between Birmingham and Manchester but they will not be high speed and they will use the existing West Coast Mainline track.
The development prompted Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham to accuse the government of treating people in the north as “second-class citizens”.
Election would be ‘massive distraction’ – Tory conference latest
He warned the government: “To pull that plug here in Manchester would show complete contempt to the city region and to the north of England as a whole.”
The Tory mayor for the West Midlands, Andy Street, also warned it would be “an incredible political gaffe” allowing opponents to accuse Mr Sunak of having decided to “shaft the north”.
In his speech, Mr Sunak will rail against “30 years of a political system which incentivises the easy decision, not the right one – 30 years of vested interests standing in the way of change”.
He will reflect on his first year in Number 10 and acknowledge a “feeling that Westminster is a broken system”.
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No high speed link north of Birmingham
“It isn’t anger, it is an exhaustion with politics,” he will say.
“In particular, politicians saying things, and then nothing ever changing.
“And you know what? People are right. Politics doesn’t work the way it should.”
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Sunak: ‘No one wants an election’
And he will say: “Politicians spent more time campaigning for change than actually delivering it.
“Our mission is to fundamentally change our country.”
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As well as the HS2 announcement, Mr Sunak has also been undermined by his predecessor Liz Truss, who drew big conference crowds as she demanded immediate tax cuts to “make Britain grow again”.
Mr Sunak has instead compared himself to the late Baroness Thatcher, who tackled inflation before cutting taxes during her premiership between 1979 and 1990.
While Mr Sunak has repeatedly sought to dodge questions over HS2, he did say on Tuesday that the costs of the project had gone “far beyond” what had been predicted, and the sums involved were “enormous”.
The HS2 scheme was given a budget of £55.7bn in 2015 but costs have ballooned, with an estimate of up to £98bn – in 2019 prices – in 2020.
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