London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 14, 2025

Steve Barclay: PM's new chief of staff pledges smaller state

Steve Barclay: PM's new chief of staff pledges smaller state

Government will take a "step back" from people's lives and pursue "a smaller state", the PM's new top aide has said.

Steve Barclay told the Sunday Telegraph that while public health interventions and vast amounts spent in the pandemic were the right decisions, it was time for "a more enabling approach".

The PM made cabinet minister Mr Barclay his new chief of staff last week.

No 10 says the prime minister will focus on domestic policy on a tour of parts of the UK this week.

It comes as Boris Johnson faces continued criticism and concern from some Conservative MPs about his leadership.

Boris Johnson names two key aides

Mr Barclay's appointment as chief of staff was part of a No 10 shake-up in the wake of civil servant Sue Gray's initial report into Downing Street lockdown parties, and the ongoing police investigation into gatherings.

In his first public comments since then, Mr Barclay writes: "Now it is a priority to restore a smaller state - both financially and in taking a step back from people's lives.

"It's time to return to a more enabling approach. To trust the people, return power to communities, and free up business to deliver."

As chief of staff, Mr Barclay is the prime minister's most senior advisor with, No 10 says, responsibility for "driving the government's agenda more efficiently and ensuring it is better aligned with the cabinet and backbenchers".

The role is usually a political appointment rather than a civil servant position.

Meanwhile, the prime minister has said he would be "getting out of London" this week to focus on "the job of uniting and levelling up the country".

Mr Johnson will travel to Scotland to visit a manufacturing site and meet with workers.


But the trip comes in the week he is required to respond to a police questionnaire about events in No 10 during lockdown.

The Met Police has said the questions, which have been sent by email to more than 50 people, "must be answered truthfully" and should be responded to within seven days.

The questionnaire has the same status as information given in an interview under caution.

But being contacted does not mean a fine would always be issued, the police have said.

Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith has said it would be "very tough" for Mr Johnson to cling on to power if he is fined.

Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said he believed Mr Johnson would "go on and fight the next election successfully".

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
EU Deploys New Biometric Entry/Exit System: What Non-EU Travelers Must Know
Australian Prime Minister’s Private Number Exposed Through AI Contact Scraper
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race
Australia Faces Demographic Risk as Fertility Falls to Record Low
California County Reinstates Mask Mandate in Health Facilities as Respiratory Illness Risk Rises
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
×