It’s the new rule of British politics: if you’re going to quit, do it on a Friday. Labour has had something of a bumpy first nine months in office. Sue Gray was out within 94 days – and now others are following her out the door too. This morning, Matthew Doyle, the No. 10 director of communications, announced he was standing down from the role. While there had been much talk of a ‘just stop Doyle’ movement within some Labour circles, the ex Blair aide had earned credit among many senior staff for his four years of service at Keir Starmer’s side.
Doyle’s role is to be split between former Sunday Times hack James Lyons, who will be responsible for communications strategy, and longtime Labour apparatchik Steph Driver, who will run delivery. A tacit acceptance, perhaps, that things were not working out as well as they should? Still, at least the resignation has been handled as a textbook case of good comms: no messy departure announced live on LBC like poor old Sue Gray suffered back in October.
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