Labour Streamlines HQ As Party Staff Move Into Government

The Labour Party is streamlining its headquarters in an organisational overhaul prompted by a large number of staff moving into government jobs.

In an email sent to party staff on Thursday, seen by PoliticsHome, Labour General Secretary David Evans set out details of “the new organisation structure” that will see policy and communications combined, headed by a new executive director – a job for which he said Labour will advertise shortly.

Under the new structure, the media and communications, attack and rebuttal, external relations, briefings, policy development and international teams will all “come together in one directorate”.

The email states that the current Labour head of field will stay in post, with an added function of “campaign management and innovation”. A senior management team has been appointed to this new function. 

“The main area of organisational change has been those functions where large numbers of colleagues have left with immediate effect to work for the Labour government either in the political office or the civil service,” the email reads.

“We recognise the impact this has had on colleagues who remained and we have worked hard to rectify this position quickly to ensure that effective communication channels have been put in place.”

The promise of “effective communication channels” comes after complaints from Labour staff that they have been left out in the cold after the party won the General Election two weeks ago.

One staffer described getting only “radio silence” from party directors “from Friday morning onwards” after polling day on 4 July, and “people having no idea what’s happening beyond the occasional generic internal comms email”.

“The issue isn’t structure, it’s basic communication about what will