“I think we’re going to have a more traditional think tank mode,” she said. “But our mission remains for Labour to win and govern well, and there’s no shirking from that. We are proudly into the concept of winning in a way that sometimes gets lost elsewhere.”
With more of Starmer’s closest allies becoming engulfed in the ongoing scandal about Peter Mandelson’s appointment as the U.K.’s ambassador to the United States, a group of MPs on the left of Labour have attempted to pin the blame on the organization. Last week, former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell called for an independent inquiry into an organization which he argued was responsible for the “toxic culture” in Downing Street.
“A lot of it is completely, utterly bonkers,” Phillips said in response. “I mean this idea that they are sort of trying to connect us with Mandelson. He has nothing to do with this. The idea that we should be blamed for literally every bit of Labour policy that’s happened at any point in history, that’s not right.”
Phillips also rejected the suggestion that such an inquiry would allow Labour Together to prove to critics that there are no more skeletons lingering in its closet.
“I’ve been through all sorts of documents, and the idea that we are responsible for all sorts of heinous crimes is, I’m afraid, very wide of the mark,” she said. “There’s nothing like the APCO report there. There really isn’t.”
While the new boss is promising to stay out of the “day-to-day politicking,” some in Westminster viewed its recent polling on potential successors to Starmer as a clear sign that Labour Together is seeking its next political patron.