The entrenchment of radical networks inside the heart of British government took another significant step forward with Andy Burnham’s latest appointments.
Burnham has brought in Matthew McGregor, former Director of Hope Not Hate and current CEO of 38 Degrees (which funds the Good Law Project), as Director of Political Strategy in 10 Downing Street. He has also appointed Alison Phillips, a current board member of Hope Not Hate, as Director of Transition.
Starmer, meanwhile, has appointed former Hope Not Hate trustee Baroness Ruth Anderson (née Smeeth) as Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office. Smeeth previously worked alongside McGregor at the same organisation.
This is not mere coincidence. Hope Not Hate — an outfit that has employed a convicted paedophile Labour councillor, Liron Velleman, and the violent communist Matthew Collins — continues to be lavishly rewarded by the state.
Key Figures and Their Records
Matthew McGregor cut his teeth on Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign before returning to Britain to spearhead Hope Not Hate’s efforts against the Brexit Party in 2019. He also sits on the board of the charity Reprieve, which campaigns to prevent the stripping of British citizenship from individuals such as Rochdale grooming gang leader Shabir Ahmed and ISIS returnee Shamima Begum. His leadership of 38 Degrees further links him to high-profile legal activism through its funding of the Good Law Project.
Alison Phillips served as editor of the Daily Mirror from 2018 to 2024 and previously headed ThinkLabour.
Burnham has also recruited Hayden Munro, former campaign director for New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern during her heavy-handed COVID era, and Sarah Brown, who spent the last five years as Sadiq Khan’s communications director.
Rounding out the inner circle, Burnham’s chief of staff will be his friend and ally James Purnell — former Labour minister, ex-chair of Tony Blair’s Institute for Public Policy Research, and one-time BBC Director of Strategy and Digital.
What This Means
These appointments reveal a coherent pattern: the fusion of state power with activist organisations, progressive media, international campaign machinery, and metropolitan political operators. Patriotism, national borders, and traditional British liberties are increasingly treated as threats rather than foundations.
Every dissenting voice, every concern about mass immigration, grooming gangs, free speech, or cultural replacement now carries a target. Expect Burnham to outpace even Keir Starmer on both open-border policies and the tightening of censorship.
The coup is not coming. It is already here — and it is consolidating its grip at pace.
