Podcasts · Inside Briefing with the Institute for Government

Resets and resignations: Starmer's worst week yet

12 Feb 2026 · 40 min

Former Downing Street chief of staff Gavin Barwell joins the podcast to discuss another explosive week at the heart of government.

On Sunday afternoon the prime minister’s chief of staff and closest adviser, Morgan McSweeney, handed in his resignation, followed on Monday by Tim Allan, Downing Street’s director of communication – for just five months. The cabinet secretary, Sir Chris Wormald, too will be leaving his post, also after a brief tenure. But the prime minister remains in office – despite the best attempts of Anas Sarwar, Labour’s leader in Scotland, who arranged a press conference on Monday to call for his resignation.

So, what does all this churn at the centre mean for the prime minister, for No.10, and for the cabinet secretary’s brief of ‘rewiring the state’? Can Keir Starmer really reset his government all over again? And what does this all mean for the actual business of government?

Presented by Hannah White. With Alex Thomas and Catherine Haddon.

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