The Downing Street chief of staff is the most senior political appointee in the Office of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,acting as a senior aide to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The holder of the office retains a highly powerful,non-ministerial position within His Majesty's Government.
SirKeir Rodney Starmer is a British politician who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2024 and as Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He previously served as Leader of the Opposition from 2020 to 2024. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St Pancras since 2015,and was Director of Public Prosecutions from 2008 to 2013.
Jennifer Chapman,Baroness Chapman of Darlington is a British politician and life peer who has served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Latin America and Caribbean since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party,she served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Darlington from 2010 to 2019.
Angela Rayner is a British politician who has served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Secretary of State for Housing,Communities and Local Government since July 2024. She has been Deputy Leader of the Labour Party since 2020 and Labour and Co-operative Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashton-under-Lyne since 2015. Ideologically she identifies as a socialist and as being part of Labour's soft left.
Simon Case is a British civil servant who served as Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service from September 2020 to December 2024.
Partygate was a political scandal in the United Kingdom about gatherings of government and Conservative Party staff during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021,at a time when such events were prohibited by public health restrictions. The first COVID-19 death in the UK occurred on 5 March 2020;18 days later,the death toll reached 335. In response,Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the UK would go into a full lockdown,with new restrictions on gathering socially with people from different households. As the pandemic continued,the rules for socialising evolved:on 16 September,the government introduced a new "rule of six" in England,whereby groups of more than six people were banned from meeting,and,the following month,Johnson unveiled new "three-tier" regulations,with London being placed in the "medium" tier 1 restrictions. Lockdown rules in England continued in some form until 19 July 2021,at which point almost all of them were lifted.
Keir Starmer assumed the position of Leader of the Opposition after being elected as leader of the Labour Party on 4 April 2020;the election was triggered by Jeremy Corbyn's resignation following the Labour Party's electoral defeat at the 2019 general election when Boris Johnson formed a majority Conservative government. Starmer appointed his Shadow Cabinet on 5 and 6 April. He reshuffled his Shadow Cabinet five times:in June 2020,May 2021,June 2021,November 2021 and 2023.
Helen MacNamara is a British former civil servant,who served as the Deputy Cabinet Secretary in the Cabinet Office from 2020 to 2021. She had previously worked as Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet from January 2019 and was Director General for Propriety and Ethics in 2018. Previous to this,she was the Director General for Housing and Planning in the Ministry of Housing,Communities and Local Government. She worked for Jeremy Heywood in the Cabinet Secretariat from 2013 to 2016.
Martin Alexander Baillie Reynolds is a British civil servant who served as Principal Private Secretary to Prime Minister Boris Johnson from 2019 to 2022. Reynolds previously served as British Ambassador to Libya under Prime Minister Theresa May and as the principal private secretary to Johnson when he served as Foreign Secretary in May's government.
Partygate was a political scandal in the United Kingdom about gatherings of government and Conservative Party staff during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021,when public health restrictions prohibited most gatherings. The scandal contributed to Boris Johnson's downfall as Prime Minister and his resignation as an MP.
The following is a timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom from January to June 2022.
Beergate was a British political controversy concerning allegations that an event in Durham on 30 April 2021,attended by Labour Party leader Keir Starmer and Deputy Leader Angela Rayner,could have been in breach of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. Labour and Starmer said,at the time and since,that the event complied with the rules for work gatherings,with a pause for food. The police,after investigating,cleared the Labour attendees,including Starmer and Rayner.
In early July 2022,62 of the United Kingdom's 179 government ministers,parliamentary private secretaries,trade envoys,and party vice-chairmen resigned from their positions in the second administration formed by Boris Johnson as Prime Minister,culminating in Johnson's resignation on 7 July. Johnson's premiership had been considered in danger for months after several scandals,but it was the Chris Pincher scandal that was identified to have spurred on the resignations. Considered the "last straw" for the Prime Minister,the scandal arose after it was revealed that Johnson had promoted his Deputy Chief Government Whip Chris Pincher,who was publicly facing multiple allegations of sexual assault,to the position despite knowing of the allegations beforehand.
A list of events relating to politics and government in the United Kingdom in 2023.
Keir Starmer served as Leader of the Opposition from April 2020,following the resignation of Jeremy Corbyn after Labour's defeat at the 2019 general election and Starmer's election as Labour leader in the ensuing leadership election,until his party won a landslide victory at the 2024 general election in July 2024. During his tenure,Starmer moved Labour toward the political centre and emphasised the elimination of antisemitism within the party.
The UK House of Commons Committee of Privileges inquiry into the matter referred on 21 April 2022 on the conduct of Boris Johnson concerns four specific assertions made by the then Prime Minister at Prime Minister's Questions about "the legality of activities in 10 Downing Street and the Cabinet Office under Covid regulations",events commonly referred to as Partygate. The investigation is concerned with whether Johnson misled the Commons when he made these statements. Johnson resigned over the investigation after having been sent a draft copy of the committee's report.
On 4 September 2023,Keir Starmer,Leader of the UK Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition,carried out a reshuffle of his shadow cabinet. This was his third major reshuffle and was described as promoting his loyalists to senior roles.
Morgan McSweeney is an Irish political strategist in the United Kingdom. He has served as Downing Street Chief of Staff under Prime Minister Keir Starmer since October 2024. Prior,McSweeney was the campaign manager for the Labour Party and director of think tank Labour Together.
The Starmer ministry began on 5 July 2024 when Keir Starmer was invited by King Charles III to form a government,following the resignation of Rishi Sunak after the general election on 4 July 2024.
