Unpicking a messy day for the government

“It wasn’t our best 24 hours in government,” said one senior figure in the government, after making waves in one way or another, some publicly and more privately.

I’ve been making loads of phone calls trying to piece together the anatomy of a roller-coaster few days in Downing Street: what those close to the Prime Minister hoped to achieve, what the bottom line was, and where this all left them.

At the heart of all this are two basic facts: The government is unpopular, and so is the Prime Minister.

These facts are the rocket fuel behind the constant chatter I hear about what Labor is trying to do about this and how long Sir Keir Starmer will remain in Downing Street.

But let’s get to the aftermath of all this confusion.

The Prime Minister and Health Minister Wes Streeting spoke by phone on Wednesday evening to try to remedy the situation.

I hear Sir Keir apologized to Streeting in the brief meeting and that they agreed to speak further “soon”.

They didn’t talk about Morgan McSweeney, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff; It has become a lightning rod for criticism from everyone, including Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch in public, and junior and senior figures in the Labor Party in private.

Widely credited as the mastermind of Labour’s electoral landslide and the political mastermind behind Sir Keir’s meteoric rise since his move as Director of Public Prosecutions, McSweeney is also one of the first to face criticism when the Downing Street machine is perceived to be stuttering, stumbling or failing outright.

He did not respond to requests for comment as some called for his head to be put on a stick.

His critics argue that in Downing Street, where McSweeney is asked to make many big policy decisions, he should take responsibility for how this all unfolded.

Others in the building insist no one working there was behind any briefing for the cabinet minister after Wes Streeting said those responsible should be sacked.

There is a tacit acknowledgment at No 10 that the health secretary conducted a series of pre-arranged interviews on Wednesday morning with dignity, confidence and humor – despite facing constant questions about his own ambitions as briefings about him had arrived just hours earlier.

For some Labor MPs, he demonstrated a communication skill and agility they only wish the Prime Minister could share.

It will also be noted that at least some of the briefings that sought to support the prime minister created an opportunity for Streeting to say that he shared the sentiments of colleagues who described Downing Street as toxic and sexist, and that those behind the briefings should be sacked.

What a mess.

The prime minister, I’m told, is “feverish” about all this and is investigating how this all happened.

From No 10’s perspective, what goes wrong is both volume and emphasis.

They had first, perhaps naively, imagined that the briefings would produce some news but not wall-to-wall headline news.

It turned out to be much louder than they expected.

What I can say is that a prime minister who allowed such things to be known through his supporters less than 18 months after a landslide general election victory would always be front page, at the top of the bulletins in these pages and others.

Secondly, they insist they did not expect there to be so much talk about Wes Streeting; The interviews he was scheduled to do on Wednesday morning greatly exaggerated this.

It must be said that others have concluded that this was precisely the intention.

There were a few more days when the Labor people in government talked about lessons learned and many in the backbenches were disturbed by what they saw as a farcical spectacle that they had to first witness and then attempt to defend.

And they choose to do neither.

But a government and prime minister whose concerns about their plight are even greater than those of the vast majority are likely to see repeats of this saga unless they can quickly address the deep unpopularity that has led to this.