Labour leader Keir Starmer has personally apologised to health secretary Wes Streeting following damaging briefings against him by Starmer's own allies, in a dramatic episode that has exposed deepening tensions within the party's senior ranks.
The Briefing That Backfired
The controversy began when Guardian reports revealed that allies of Starmer had been conducting an anti-Streeting briefing campaign. Streeting initially attempted to downplay the situation, telling journalists that if Starmer were to call him about the matter, he would respond: "Why are you bothering with this."
However, this attempt to minimise the damage proved counter-productive for Starmer while inadvertently strengthening Streeting's position. By the time the two men spoke on Wednesday night, the conversation took a very different tone from what Streeting had anticipated.
According to sources familiar with the discussion, Starmer offered a direct apology to his health secretary during their brief telephone conversation. The exchange did not touch upon the future of Morgan McSweeney, Starmer's chief of staff, whom some are now pressuring the Labour leader to dismiss.
Growing Leadership Paranoia
The incident has highlighted what journalists describe as increasing "paranoia" within Number 10 about leadership manoeuvrings. Jess Elgot reported that conversations about replacing Starmer have been ongoing since Manchester mayor Andy Burnham launched his own leadership positioning two months ago.
"People close to Number 10 will say to me: 'I actually don't think they intended to put the spotlight on Wes,'" Elgot revealed. "What they wanted to do was make it really clear that Keir is not going anywhere, that he will fight any attempt to dislodge him."
Instead, the strategy backfired spectacularly, making it appear as though Starmer's team was conducting a hit-job on Streeting, who is widely regarded as the cabinet minister with the most obvious leadership ambitions.
Calls for Party Unity
Energy secretary Ed Miliband intervened on Thursday morning, urging the Labour party to refocus on its mission rather than internal squabbles. In an interview with Sky News, Miliband acknowledged that the briefing had been "bad" but stressed the need for unity.
"I've been at this a long time," Miliband said. "Governments going through days of turbulence. I was there during the Blair/Brown years. What gets you through, what sustains you, is your sense of mission, your values, what you believe in, who you stand up for."
He added that Starmer "will hate all this nonsense" and emphasised that the party needed to concentrate on serving the country rather than internal politics.
The two senior Labour figures have agreed to speak again soon, though this is largely symbolic given they both attend cabinet meetings regularly and necessarily maintain working contact.
