Girl Power behind Starmer: Former dinner lady and one-time chess prodigy key to ... trends now
Bamboozled by the trans rights debate. Criticised for being too 'male, pale and stale'. Embarrassed by Labour's ongoing failure to elect a female leader. People are beginning to say Sir Keir Starmer has a woman problem. So, behind the scenes, he's begun assembling a group of trusted women to help him form policy and steer him into Downing Street. Here, our political columnist DAN HODGES profiles them…
1. The General
Deborah Mattinson, 66
Director of Strategy
Responsible for drawing up Starmer's electoral battleplan. The veteran pollster's obsessive focus on recapturing heartland voters lost in 2019 has led one MP to grumble that she 'bangs on about the Red Wall so much, people have started calling her The Bricklayer'.
But Labour's local election victories have silenced her critics. As the author of the 2020 book Beyond The Red Wall: Why Labour Lost, How The Conservatives Won And What Will Happen Next? her crystal ball-gazing is highly valued.
Deborah Mattinson, 66, is responsible for drawing up Starmer's electoral battleplan
Sir Keir Starmer has begun assembling a group of trusted women to help him form policy and steer him into Downing Street
2. The Ghost
Sue Gray, 65
Starmer's Chief of Staff (pending a Cabinet Office investigation into her appointment)
Her job swap, jumping ship from being Second Permanent Secretary in the Cabinet Office where she was Boris Johnson's Partygate nemesis, caused uproar.
Ministers, mandarins and even some members of Starmer's Shadow Cabinet argued that her appointment undermined the neutrality of the Civil Service.
But her supporters claim her unrivalled experience of negotiating the Whitehall labyrinth, extensive range of political contacts and uncanny ability to align herself with any prevailing powerbase make her the perfect choice.
According to a friend: 'If you need a problem quietly fixed, Sue's your person. She'll make the issue vanish. And she'll do it without leaving any footprints in the snow.'
Sue Gray, 65, jumped ship from being Second Permanent Secretary in the Cabinet Office
3. The Outsider
Angela Rayner, 43
Deputy leader
The most influential woman not in Starmer's inner circle.
It's an open secret that the fiery single mother from Stockport and her leader don't see eye to eye.
'Keir's team don't trust her,' according to one shadow minister. 'They think she's after the top job.'
Despite such wariness, they know they can't ignore her because she's popular with Labour's grassroots, and her earthy, combative style has earned her the grudging respect of Tories.
'Angela is Keir's John Prescott,' a veteran of the New Labour years explained. 'When Keir gets into Downing Street, her job will be to keep his feet on the ground.'
Angela Rayner, 43, is the most influential woman not in Starmer's inner circle
4. The Red Queen
Rachel Reeves, 44
Shadow Chancellor
Viewed by most Labour MPs as the party's de-facto deputy leader.
A former Bank of England economist and child chess prodigy, she is widely acknowledged as having the most analytical mind in the Shadow Cabinet.
'Most of us try to think three steps ahead. Rachel is always about 13 steps ahead,' a colleague says.
Her determination to drive fiscal discipline into her party has created tensions. 'She's always sticking her nose in. It's not just over economic policy, she wants to have control over everything,' one Shadow Minister complained.
But Reeves is impervious to such criticism. 'If she has to step on toes to get us into power, she'll do that,' a source said. 'Actually, she'll break them off if necessary.'
Rachel Reeves, 44, is viewed by most Labour MPs as the party's de-facto deputy leader
5. The Iron Lady
Jill Cuthbertson
Director of Starmer's Office
Gordon Brown's diary secretary when he was PM, she is now Starmer's 'Gatekeeper'
