Morgan McSweeney has claimed that the British state is “out of shape”.

Speaking to Nick Robinson on the BBC’s Political Thinking podcast this week, the former Downing Street chief of staff said that the state is “big, but it’s actually quite weak. It’s too weak to pick up a bin in Birmingham or to stop the boats or to get a phone answer at a GP.”

“I think that the state feels just out of shape,” he stated. “It’s incredibly centralised. Whitehall is like the last street of an empire.”

McSweeney made the remarks in reference to the aftermath of Labour’s 2024 election victory, arguing that on taking office the party realised the state did not “feel that strong”. He added: “The challenges the country had were much more severe than we were expecting. The scale of it everywhere, I think, was a surprise.”

The Government adviser resigned earlier this year after taking “full responsibility” for the appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington in spite of the Labour grandee’s close relationship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. McSweeney said the extent of Mandelson’s connection to Epstein was not known at the time of the appointment, but admitted: “I failed in my job and failed in my duty.”

McSweeney also argued this week that the Labour Party had failed to adequately prepare for government during its time in Opposition, and that there were not enough discussions within the party on “how the state needed to be reformed”. Labour was criticised for early decisions such as the removal of the Winter Fuel Allowance from some pensioners, a policy which had not been included in the party’s 2024 manifesto.

McSweeney claimed that the failure to act fast enough to reform the state contributed to the government’s quick unpopularity. The Labour government’s support in polling dropped more than any ministry since 1983 in its first year in office, falling from 37.5% in July 2024 to 23.3% in June 2025. “We didn’t prepare enough for what kind of world we were going to be in,” he said.

The former chief of staff commented that he felt “optimistic” about the prospect of Andy Burnham becoming prime minister. He also expressed support for Burnham’s proposal to move part of the 10 Downing Street operation to Manchester, arguing that power is too concentrated in London. “If at the top of government there are people who don’t just have a desk somewhere outside London, but actually live their whole lives outside of London,” McSweeney said, “I think that will be a good thing.”