Energy Secretary Ed Miliband Calls on Labour to Focus Forward Following Keir Starmer Offers Apology to Streeting for Negative Backgrounding
High-ranking Labour Party official Ed Miliband has urged the party to put aside internal conflicts after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer directly said sorry to health minister Wes Streeting over hostile briefings originating from Number 10.
Major Developments
- Ed Miliband declares Starmer will fire the Downing Street official behind for targeting Streeting if discovered
- The Energy Secretary rejects future leadership aspirations, stating his past time as Labour leader was the "strongest inoculation" against seeking the role again
- British economic growth expanded by just 0.1% in the third quarter, affected by the Jaguar Land Rover cyber-attack
Situation
The internal unrest started after reports surfaced about hostile briefings from the Prime Minister's supporters targeting Streeting. Despite early efforts to downplay the situation, the conversation between Starmer and the health minister apparently took a more serious direction.
Starmer apologised to Streeting, the media have been told. The exchange was concise, and they did not talk about Morgan McSweeney, whom the PM is now under growing pressure to dismiss.
Miliband's Reaction
In his early morning broadcast interviews, Miliband highlighted the need for the party to concentrate on country-wide matters rather than internal disputes.
Look, I think the media briefing has been unhelpful, without doubt.
But my message to the party now is quite simple, which is we need to concentrate on the country, not our internal matters.
We were given a historic election win last summer, a important chance to change our country. And we have a serious obligation.
Economic News
Separately, official statistics indicated the British economic performance expanded by just 0.1% in the July-September period, with the manufacturing industry particularly affected by the recent JLR security incident.
Today's Agenda
- 9.30am: NHS England releases its monthly statistics
- Today: Wes Streeting is visiting the Liverpool area
- Morning: The Chancellor makes comments to the media
- 11.30am: Number 10 holds its daily lobby briefing
- Morning: The Prime Minister promotes plans for the UK's pioneering small modular reactor facility at Wylfa on the island of Anglesey
