New prime minister Keir Starmer this week reached out to civil servants in a video message that saw him pledge "confidence, support and respect" to officials bruised by years of turmoil at the hands of ministers. But he's not the only one of the latest generation of political leaders in government to make grand pledges to staff.
Like Starmer, new cabinet ministers appointed in the wake of Labour's landslide general election victory have wasted no time in sharing their sometimes evangelical, sometimes highly realistic visions for the future.
Along the way, foreign secretary David Lammy unpacked his "progressive realist" hopes; transport secretary Louise Haigh admitted plans to hoist a new motto on her department; and John Healey took swipes at his predecessor and one of the MoD's more pressing HR issues.
Miliband's 'coming home'
Energy secretary Ed Miliband is the only cabinet member who returns to essentially the same post they previously held the last time Labour was in power.
Now secretary of state at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Miliband's address to staff came almost 16 years after he first took up post as SoS at the newly-created Department of Energy and Climate Change.
"I am inspired to have the chance to lead the department and work with you all," he said. "The reason I’m so excited to have been appointed to this role is because it speaks directly to the twin passions that continue to motivate me. First, resolving the economic inequality that scars the country, and second tackling the climate crisis that imperils our world."
Miliband pledged that DESNZ would be a "mission-driven department" on his watch, "mobilising citizens, businesses, trade unions, civil society and local government in a national effort".
"Having been the secretary of state for energy and climate change from 2008 to 2010, arriving at the department feels like coming home," he said. "Back then, I saw first-hand the brilliant work that civil servants do and I know how hard you have worked on behalf of the country in the years since."
He added: "The civil service is one of Britain’s great institutions and I look forward to working with you to change our country for the better."
DfE 'should be a place where people are proud to work'
Shortly after being appointed as education secretary, Bridget Phillipson told officials at the Department for Education that the new government would be "focused relentlessly" on improving the life chances of the nation's children.
"I am determined that we will drive change together," she said. "Together across government. Together with staff across education, together, where we can, with the trade unions who represent the education workforce, and above all, and most importantly, together with every one of you."
Phillipson added: "Great departments are not made by their secretaries of state, but by all of the people who work in them.
"I know that whether the government of the day is Labour or Conservative, no-one comes to work in this department unless they are driven by the determination to deliver a better future for all of our children. So I am so deeply proud that I will be working with all of you.
"I know that in the civil service you are bright, committed people who put public service first, you chose to work here, on the greatest of our causes, our children, their education, shaping Britain’s future."
Phillipson said she wanted DfE to be a place where all staff were proud to come to work every day, and where their contribution was valued from the permanent secretary down.
Reynolds means business
Jonathan Reynolds, new boss at the Department for Business and Trade, reminded staff in his introductory message that they are "the interface between geopolitics, economic policy, workers' rights, economic security and more".
"No government can deliver for working people unless we are creating high-quality jobs that fit with people's lives," he said. "And that means growing the economy, and ensuring the benefits of that are shared widely.
"Whether it's developing and delivering on our new industrial strategy, supporting small businesses and boosting UK exports, or creating a new deal for working people by making employment more secure, everything we must do is always about delivering upon that agenda."
Reynolds told staff he believed DBT could "deliver more for the UK than it has ever had the chance to do before" under the new Labour government. He said the department had the chance to shape the nation for decades to come.
"I ask each and every one of you to help me deliver upon that," he said. "Thank you for everything you've done, everything that you do, but from now on everything that we will do and achieve together."
Jonathan Reynolds takes a selfie with some of his new team at DBT. Photo: Department for Business and Trade
Lammy thinks big
Staff at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office packed out Durbar Court to hear new foreign secretary David Lammy deliver a speech and answer questions.
"I want to be a foreign secretary who not only holds this office, but one that uses it to deliver progress," Lammy told them.
The secretary of state said that when he walked into King Charles Street on Friday last week, and passed the statue of 1945-51 predecessor Ernest Bevin on the grand staircase, it struck him that the task facing the FCDO was to "recapture Britain's restless energy" and reconnect the nation to the world.
"I am a progressive realist. I believe in change and I believe in our power to reshape international institutions," Lammy said. "But I am not naive about the limits of power. Together we can write new stories about how we reconnected Britain with the world. This change starts now."
Healey enters combat mode
New defence secretary John Healey hit the ground running with a punchy address to civilian and armed forces staff at the Ministry of Defence on 5 July.
Healey, who was a minister for local government under Gordon Brown and held HM Treasury posts under Tony Blair, was disparaging about predecessor Grant Shapps' taste for photo opportunities and also addressed ongoing concerns about sexual harassment in the department.
"We know there are serious problems – with our armed forces hollowed out and under-funded for 14 years," Healey said. "I am more interested in results than photo opportunities."
He added: "We’ll have a culture that values all, and we’ll have zero tolerance for any abuse, in the military or the civil service."
Healey said the new government's mission was to make Britain secure at home and strong abroad.
"It isn’t just those who serve in uniform who defend this country, it’s those of you who serve in the civil service, who work on the production line, who staff the research labs, who develop software," he said. "I want to see defence at the heart both of the future security of this country, and the future success of this country.
"That means an armed forces well-equipped and ready to fight, a skilled, scalable industrial base, a stronger relationship with allies, a more influential MoD, a public that understands and better supports those who are willing to serve – those whose service is the ultimate form of public service."
Healey told his audience: "The work you do is vital and we are proud of the professionalism and your dedication to serving this nation, both in uniform and out. So thank you for everything that you do. You will have my fullest support as your defence secretary."
Streeting health alert
In what has become a familiar pattern in recent days, new health secretary Wes Streeting began an address to staff at the Department of Health and Social Care by declaring the NHS to be "broken".
"It will take a team effort. It will be the mission of my department, every member of this government, and the 1.4 million people who work in the NHS to turn our health service around," Streeting said.
"We have done this before. When we were last in office, we worked hand in hand with NHS staff to deliver the shortest waits and highest patient satisfaction in history. We did it before, and together we will do it again. That work starts today."
The secretary of state, who was successfully treated for kidney cancer three years ago, said he owed his life to the health service and that starting work to save the NHS would "begin to repay that debt".
High-speed Haigh
Louise Haigh, new secretary of state at the Department for Transport, was keen to stress the need for a step-change in delivery at the department in her first address to staff.
As well as promising to deliver the biggest overhaul to transport in a generation, Haigh said DfT would have a new motto: "move fast and fix things".
"Our department is so clearly central to achieving the missions for government that the prime minister has committed us to," she said.
"Growth, net zero, opportunity, women and girls’ safety, health – none of these can be realised without transport as a key enabler."
Haigh said DfT would "think about infrastructure and services together at every turn". She also said the department would "focus relentlessly" on improving performance on the railways and introduce "much-needed rail reform".
Nandy pledges to end "culture wars"
Lisa Nandy – new secretary of state at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport – used her initial address to staff to declare the "era of culture wars" to be "over".
"In recent years we’ve found multiple ways to divide ourselves from one another," she said. "And lost that sense of a self-confident, outward-looking country which values its own people in every part of the UK. Changing that is the mission of this department."
Nandy may have been Starmer's least-well-prepared new member of the cabinet. She did not hold the shadow DCMS brief in opposition. Former shadow secretary of state Thangam Debbonaire's failure to be re-elected in her former Bristol Central constituency created a vacancy in the culture brief on Friday morning last week.
Nandy told DCMS staff her intention was for the department to to serve the nation by "celebrating and championing the diversity and rich inheritance of our communities and the people in them".
"Governments don’t make this country what we are – people do," she said. "And whether it’s through investing in grassroots sport, a visible symbol of what our young people mean to us in every community, or enabling brilliant working-class kids to succeed in drama, dance or journalism – we will be a government that walks alongside them as they create that country I’ve believed in all of my life, but never quite yet seen."
Nandy cautioned staff she would be asking more of them than had ever been asked before. She added: "But I promise you that if you give it your all, I will always have your back."
Mahmood "so excited"
With measures to address the prisons capacity crisis forcing the new government's first tough choices, Shabana Mahmood might well have inherited the cabinet's most difficult brief.
Nevertheless, the new justice secretary told Ministry of Justice staff she was "so exited" to have been appointed as lord chancellor and secretary of state in a video message to departmental officials.
Standing alongside MoJ permanent secretary Dame Antonia Romeo, Mahmood did not play down the magnitude of the issues faced by the department – which also include huge backlogs in the courts.
"I'm looking forward to meeting all of you as I travel across the country, seeing all of the work you do," she said.
"I know we have huge challenges in this department, but I look forward to getting stuck in. And I want to work with everybody in a spirit of collaboration and cooperation. I know that if we work together, we can get the job done."