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NEW: Morgan and Lyons in. The Prime Minister has made five appointments today to strengthen his Downing Street operation ahead of marking his first 100 days in office. Keir Starmer said: “I’m really pleased to be able to bring in such talented and experienced individuals into my team. This shows my absolute determination to deliver the change the country voted for.” The five appointments are: Morgan McSweeney moves to Chief of Staff having served in No10 as chief adviser to the Prime Minister. Prior to that, McSweeney was campaign director for Labour’s general election campaign and directed the party’s first win in 19 years. He brings more than two decades of political experience to the role. Vidhya Alakeson and Jill Cuthbertson have been promoted to Deputy Chiefs of Staff. Vidhya Alakeson is currently the Political Director at Number 10. She was previously Director of External Relations at the Labour Party and for the Leader of the Opposition. Prior to joining the Labour Party, she was the Chief Executive of Power to Change. She has also worked in the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit, in HM Treasury, for the US government and in a number of leading think tanks. Jill Cuthbertson has been Director of Government Relations in Downing Street since July 2024 having spent 3 years working with Keir Starmer as Director of the Leader of the Opposition’s Office overseeing his profile, events, visits and leading the 2024 Leader’s Tour. Jill previously worked for Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband. Nin Pandit has been appointed PPS to the Prime Minister. She was Director of the Downing Street Policy Unit from November 2022 and prior to that led the No10 Delivery Unit’s health and social care team. Nin started her career in the NHS in 2008 and led the development of the UK’s first electronic health and care records and before joining Government served as Chief of Staff and lead policy advisor to the NHS England CEO. James Lyons will join to head up a new strategic communications team. Lyons, the former NHS Director of Communications, joins from TikTok. Prior to that he was deputy political editor of The Sunday Times and the Daily Mirror. James brings extensive knowledge of the media landscape and strategic communications. Ends

This is all going according to plan. England limp through to the quarter finals but with no feelgood factor to help the Tories. Then after the election Southgate gets them playing brilliantly and they win the tournament and a Labour Prime Minister welcomes them back with the cup