Sir Keir Starmer has said sorry to Wes Streeting just 24 hours after a frenzied “briefing war” broke out at the heart of No10.
The PM is set to investigate the source of the accusations that the Health Secretary was mounting a coup to become Labour leader, party chairwoman Anna Turley said last night.
She added that Sir Keir will “take action” to prevent future attacks taking place.
Mr Streeting had earlier condemned the “toxic culture” inside Downing Street and questioned whether the PM’s long-time ally and chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, should keep his job.
Sir Keir eventually admitted the hostile briefings against his own Health Secretary were “completely unacceptable”, then moved to ease relations with him directly.
According to a No10 source, the PM “briefly” spoke with Mr Streeting directly on Wednesday evening to apologise.
It is understood the pair did not talk about Mr McSweeney – but agreed to talk again soon.
Regarding Sir Keir’s next steps, Ms Turley told ITV: “He is going to investigate and we’ll see what happens as a consequence of that.
Sir Keir Starmer has said sorry to Wes Streeting
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“But the reality is, he’s absolutely clear, this is not in his name. This is not what he wants to see and he’s determined to drive it out.”
She added: “It’s not he was not aware of this briefing… He’s going to take action in this to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
However, Ms Turley rebuked calls for Mr McSweeney to be sacked, insisting “we don’t know who’s responsible” as she called claims that he was behind the attacks “tittle tattle”.
Mr Streeting called for those behind the “juvenile” briefing against him to be sacked on Wednesday.
That came after a Government source said on Tuesday: “Unfortunately there is a pattern of Keir’s team briefing against his own people – they did it to Angela [Rayner], Lisa [Nandy], Lucy [Powell], now it’s Wes’s turn.
“A circular firing squad won’t help the Government out of the hole we’re in.”
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Kemi Badenoch laid into the Labour civil war at PMQs
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At PMQs on Wednesday, Tory chief Kemi Badenoch laid into Labour’s “civil war” and called for Sir Keir to publicly give Mr McSweeney his full confidence – the “kiss of death”, as Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith later put it.
The PM responded: “Morgan McSweeney, my team and I are absolutely focused on delivering for the country.
“I’ve never authorised attacks on Cabinet members. I appointed them to their posts because they are the best people to carry out their jobs.”
Last night’s chaos had sparked mass unease among backbench Labour MPs about the party’s internal culture.
Sir Keir insisted he did not call for the campaign against Wes Streeting
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HOUSE OF COMMONS
One Labour MP said they were in despair over the briefing, insisting that “whoever thought it was clever wants shooting” and “there is clearly a cultural problem”.
Another MP on the Labour left admitted there was widespread belief that Sir Keir may not lead the party into the next election.
On Tuesday night, even his ministers called him “hated”.
One said: “It’s terrible. He is hated out there. It is worse than it got under Corbyn. I don’t see how this is sustainable until May,” they added, referencing the looming local elections – and the prospect of another Reform UK whitewash.
