Energy Secretary Ed Miliband Calls on the Labour Party to Focus Forward After Starmer Offers Apology to Streeting for Hostile Backgrounding
Senior Labour official Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has demanded the party to leave behind internal conflicts after Prime Minister Keir Starmer personally said sorry to health minister Wes Streeting over hostile media stories linked to Number 10.
Major Events
- Ed Miliband declares Starmer will sack the Downing Street source behind for briefing against Wes Streeting if discovered
- Miliband rules out future leadership plans, declaring his previous experience as leader was the "strongest inoculation" against wanting the position again
- UK economic growth grew by just 0.1% in the July-September period, affected by the Jaguar Land Rover hack
Context
The internal turmoil erupted after media stories emerged about hostile background comments from Starmer's team targeting Streeting. Despite early attempts to minimize the incident, the conversation between Starmer and Streeting according to sources followed a more serious direction.
Starmer apologised to Streeting, reporters have been told. The conversation was concise, and they did not discuss Morgan McSweeney, whom the PM is now under pressure to sack.
The Energy Secretary's Response
In his morning media interviews, Ed Miliband highlighted the need for the party to concentrate on country-wide matters rather than party conflicts.
Clearly, I think the media briefing has been damaging, without doubt.
But my call to the Labour members today is straightforward, which is we need to focus on the country, not each other.
We were given a significant victory last July, a important opportunity to improve our nation. And we have a major duty.
Economic Update
Separately, government data showed the British economic performance increased by just 0.1 percent in the third quarter, with the industrial industry especially impacted by the recently reported JLR security incident.
Today's Schedule
- Morning: NHS England issues its latest statistics
- Today: Wes Streeting visits the Liverpool area
- Morning: Rachel Reeves makes comments to the press
- Late morning: Downing Street holds its regular lobby briefing
- Today: The Prime Minister highlights plans for the UK's first nuclear power project at Wylfa site on the island of Anglesey
