Energy Secretary Ed Miliband Encourages Labour to Focus Forward Following Starmer Apologises to Wes Streeting for Aggressive Backgrounding
Senior Labour Party figure Ed Miliband has demanded the party to leave behind internal tensions after leader Keir Starmer personally expressed regret to health minister Wes Streeting MP over negative briefings originating from the Prime Minister's office.
Key Updates
- Miliband declares Starmer will fire the Downing Street official responsible for briefing against Wes Streeting if discovered
- Miliband dismisses future leadership aspirations, saying his previous experience as leader was the "best vaccine" against seeking the position again
- UK economy increased by just 0.1 percent in the July-September period, affected by the Jaguar Land Rover cyber-attack
Situation
The political unrest started after allegations surfaced about hostile briefings from the Prime Minister's team targeting Streeting. Although initial attempts to downplay the situation, the discussion between Starmer and Streeting apparently followed a different turn.
The Prime Minister said sorry to Streeting, journalists have been told. The conversation was brief, and they did not talk about Morgan McSweeney, whom Starmer is now under increasing scrutiny to remove.
Miliband's Response
In his morning media interviews, Ed Miliband highlighted the need for the party to concentrate on national matters rather than internal divisions.
Clearly, I think the briefing has been damaging, certainly.
But my call to the Labour members today is straightforward, which is we need to focus on the nation, not ourselves.
We were given a historic mandate last July, a major opportunity to change our country. And we have a serious duty.
Economic Update
Meanwhile, government statistics showed the UK economic performance increased by just 0.1% in the third quarter, with the industrial sector especially affected by the recent Jaguar Land Rover security incident.
Today's Schedule
- Morning: The National Health Service issues its monthly performance figures
- Today: The Health Secretary is visiting the Liverpool area
- Morning: Rachel Reeves makes comments to the journalists
- Late morning: Downing Street conducts its regular lobby briefing
- Morning: Keir Starmer highlights plans for the Britain's first small modular reactor facility at Wylfa site on the island of Anglesey
