Energy Secretary Ed Miliband Calls on Labour to Focus Forward After Keir Starmer Says Sorry to Streeting for Hostile Backgrounding
Senior Labour Party official Ed Miliband has called for the party to move beyond party tensions after PM Keir Starmer personally apologised to Health Secretary Wes Streeting over hostile leaked comments linked to Downing Street.
Key Updates
- Ed Miliband declares Starmer will fire the No 10 source behind for briefing against Streeting if found
- Miliband rules out future leadership ambitions, stating his past time as leader was the "most effective protection" against wanting the role again
- UK economic growth grew by just 0.1% in the third quarter, affected by the Jaguar Land Rover security breach
Situation
The internal controversy erupted after media stories circulated about hostile background comments from the Prime Minister's team targeting Streeting. Although initial efforts to dismiss the situation, the talk between Starmer and Streeting reportedly took a different direction.
The Prime Minister apologised to Wes Streeting, journalists have been told. The conversation was short, and they did not address Morgan McSweeney, whom Starmer is now under increasing scrutiny to remove.
The Energy Secretary's Reaction
In his morning media interviews, Miliband stressed the need for the party to concentrate on national matters rather than party disputes.
Clearly, I think the backgrounding has been damaging, without doubt.
But my message to the Labour party now is straightforward, which is we need to focus on the public, not our internal matters.
We were given a major election win last summer, a major chance to transform our nation. And we have a major duty.
Economic Update
Separately, official statistics showed the UK economic performance expanded by just 0.1 percent in the July-September period, with the production sector especially impacted by the recent JLR security incident.
The Day's Agenda
- Morning: The National Health Service issues its latest data
- Today: Wes Streeting visits the Liverpool area
- Today: Rachel Reeves makes comments to the journalists
- Late morning: Number 10 conducts its daily media briefing
- Morning: The Prime Minister announces plans for the Britain's first small modular reactor plant at Wylfa on Anglesey
