Labour must deliver or risk populist rise, top ministers say

“And there will be a shift to the populists on the left and right”.

She added Labour had to combat a view among some voters that “politicians are all liars”.

Wes Streeting, the health secretary, who came within 500 votes of losing his seat to a pro-Palestinian campaigner, said: “Unless we deliver, people will lose hope and they will turn to the siren voices of populism.

“So I feel that heavy weight on our shoulders.”

The new Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, said members of the cabinet had to preserve their connections to working class communities and the constituencies they represent.

“We have got to retain that and really be connected to working people”, he said.

“If we don’t, as we’re seeing in other parts of the world, in democracies, the populists – whether from the far-right or the far-left – will offer a different vision.”

Panorama has been behind the scenes with Ms Reeves, Mr Lammy and Mr Streeting in their first fortnight in government, with access to some of their first meetings with officials in Whitehall and ministerial visits.

They tell of how they felt when the exit poll – which pointed to a massive Labour victory – was released, and what it was like to take their seats around the Cabinet Office table for the first time.

Mr Lammy, who was part of Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership campaign back in 2020, said he never worried about the Labour leader’s ability as a potential prime minister.

Rather, he was concerned about whether he could turn around the Labour Party after its shattering defeat in 2019 – believing it would take 10 years, not five.