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A word from Pat McFadden When Tony Blair was Prime Minister, this was enough to steer him in a different direction.
Now, the New Labor veteran will wield even more influence if Sir Keir Starmer becomes Number 10. The unassuming Scot is expected to become one of the “Quad” of four senior ministers who make key strategic decisions about the future of the United Kingdom.
Mr McFadden is widely known and respected in Westminster and Labor circles and has served the party under seven successive leaders since 1988. However, his wide public profile is minimal.
John McFadden, who succeeded Mr McFadden as Prime Minister Blair’s political secretary in 2005, described Mr McFadden last year as “probably the most influential politician you’ve ever heard of”.
The destruction of Labour’s “red wall” meant Starmer was one of the few senior MPs the party could turn to for wise advice as he embarked on the huge task of restoring the party as an electoral force in 2020.
Now, as national campaign co-ordinator, the 59-year-old is one of the most important members of Labour’s top team. If his party wins the election, Mr Starmer is expected to lead the Cabinet Office, the government’s organ room, as he aims to deliver on plans for a “mission-driven” government.
Considered one of Labour’s staunch moderates, Mr McFadden adheres to the core philosophy that there are “two key tests” that politicians must pass before being fit to govern.
“Are you trusted with people’s money? Are you trusted with the defense of the kingdom? And unless you pass these tests, frankly, what you have to say about policy is It doesn’t matter, because people don’t listen,” he told the BBC’s Nick Robinson last year.
He shares this outlook with Rachel Reeves, a close political ally. Rachel Reeves is the shadow chancellor whose strict fiscal rules have irritated both Labor’s opponents and the party’s left wing.
McFadden’s first frontbench role during the Starmer era was as Leafs’ deputy. In September he was handed over the campaign role and was appointed to the shadow role of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (a position held by a senior Cabinet Office minister). The role was previously held by Labour’s Deputy Leader Angela Reiner and Mr Reeves.
He was born into a working-class family in Paisley, Renfrewshire, to Catholic parents from Donegal, the youngest of seven children. Like many of his contemporaries, he was politicized by Margaret Thatcher’s policies and became politically active, chairing Scottish Labor Students at the University of Edinburgh.
He also took sides within the Labor Party and was inspired to join the Labor Party during its battle with Neil Kinnock and far-left extremists. In 1988 he became an academic and spokesperson for Donald Dewar, then Labour’s Scottish affairs spokesperson.
Five years later he was tapped by party leader John Smith as a speechwriter and policy advisor. And when Smith died of a heart attack in 1994, McFadden was drawn into the heart of Blair and Gordon Brown’s New Labor project. As assistant to Labour’s communications director Peter Mandelson, he helped the party prepare for what would have been a landslide election in 1997.
McFadden’s influence continued at Downing Street, where he played a key role in Prime Minister Blair’s delivery force and found himself embroiled in the so-called “TB-GB” war between the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister. His friends, allies and adversaries remember his professionalism and cool head.
Sir Kim Darroch, a senior diplomat who was Prime Minister Blair’s European adviser at the time, said: “He was kind of the anti-Dominic Cummings, because he didn’t get angry at anyone and wanted to sack people.” Because I didn’t do it,” he said. ,Tell you I.
“He was calm, authoritative, and knew how to work with people. What struck me about him was that he was very approachable, yet he didn’t approach people in power. He had no problem telling the truth. Pat had good political judgment, especially when it came to backbench opinions.”
Darroch added that, like Starmer, Blair was often prepared to challenge his own party, but would reconsider his actions if faced with McFadden’s “insensitivity”.
Dame Louise Casey, who was chosen by Prime Minister Blair’s home secretary David Blunkett to head the newly created anti-social behavior unit, got to know McFadden well.
“Paisley goes to his core,” she says. “He’s a straight-up working-class worker. And what I really like about him is that he doesn’t need to be the center of attention. He doesn’t want that. I want to get the job done.”
McFadden subsequently stood and won the seat of Wolverhampton South East, which represents one of the most deprived constituencies in the country, in the 2005 election.
From 2006 to 2010, he held a series of junior frontbench roles. When the ailing Gordon Brown appointed Lord Mandelson as his business secretary in 2008, Mr McFadden became his deputy, running part of the department and representing him in the House of Commons.
Mr Mandelson previously described his longtime ally as a “solid, hard-nosed centre-leftist” and “a walking encyclopedia of politics and policy knowledge”.
Mr McFadden, an ardent pro-European, was Ed Miliband’s shadow minister for Europe before being sacked by Jeremy Corbyn in 2016 for “disloyalty”. The comments followed a House of Commons statement on the 2015 Islamist attacks in Paris, in which Mr Corbyn appeared to criticize his own leadership. “The view is that terrorist acts are always a reaction, a response to the actions of our Western nations.” His resignation sparked a wave of frontbench resignations.
The party’s soft left now doubts Labour’s stubbornness, with Labour’s “small target” election campaign a sign that some hope the opposition will work on reversing the Tories’ long-term austerity. said it may feel like “light heavy lifting” to some voters. .
But Mr Starmer is thought to have high praise for Mr Starmer, who has suggested his government may focus on reform rather than “tax and spend”. McFadden’s reported future role in the Quad will be to be part of a chosen ‘cabinet’ alongside Reeves, Starmer and Reiner, determining strategy from the centre.
“Pat is calm and sensible,” said one shadow cabinet official. “He is always thinking one step ahead and his political instincts are second to none. Kia values his insight and judgment.”
“People will trust him because he’s not trying to be the leader of the Labor Party,” Casey said. She notes that McFadden is “very good at saying no” and can “sort out the basics.”
These are attributes that could be crucial given that Labor is likely to take on new demands for public sector pay rises, while inheriting high levels of public debt and tight services.
“I hope they leave him alone.” [Cabinet Office] Because the job is about mediation,” Casey added. She is “mediating, mediating, mediating at the highest level.”
For now, Mr McFadden’s first priority is working with the party’s close-knit campaign team. Among them are Morgan McSweeney, a long-time close ally of Mr Starmer who became chief campaign officer, Ellie Reeves, his deputy co-ordinator, and McFadden, himself a former number 10 adviser in the Blair government. This includes his wife Marianna.
The ongoing Tory turmoil and Labour’s consistently overwhelming support mean that Mr Starmer appears almost certain to secure the keys to Downing Street. Given that Mr McFadden has been a central figure in Labour’s resurgence, his role in the party’s next chapter seems a safe bet as well.