Energy Secretary Ed Miliband Urges Labour to Focus Forward After Keir Starmer Apologises to Wes Streeting for Hostile Briefings
Senior Labour figure Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has demanded the party to put aside party conflicts after PM Keir Starmer directly apologised to Health Secretary Wes Streeting over negative media stories originating from Number 10.
Major Events
- Miliband declares Starmer will dismiss the No 10 staffer responsible for briefing against Streeting if identified
- The Energy Secretary dismisses future party leader ambitions, declaring his past time as Labour leader was the "strongest vaccine" against wanting the role again
- UK economic growth grew by just 0.1% in the third quarter, affected by the Jaguar Land Rover cyber-attack
Situation
The political unrest began after reports surfaced about critical background comments from the Prime Minister's allies targeting the Health Secretary. Despite early attempts to dismiss the incident, the talk between the PM and the health minister apparently took a different turn.
Starmer expressed regret to Wes Streeting, reporters have been told. The discussion was short, and they did not discuss the chief of staff, whom Starmer is now under increasing scrutiny to dismiss.
The Energy Secretary's Reaction
In his morning broadcast interviews, Miliband stressed the need for the party to direct attention on country-wide priorities rather than internal disputes.
Clearly, I think the backgrounding has been bad, certainly.
But my call to the Labour party now is clear, which is we need to prioritize the country, not each other.
We were given a major election win last July, a historic opportunity to change our nation. And we have a serious responsibility.
Growth Update
Meanwhile, government figures indicated the UK economy grew by just 0.1% in the July-September period, with the industrial industry especially impacted by the recently reported JLR security incident.
Today's Agenda
- 9.30am: The National Health Service publishes its latest performance figures
- Morning: Wes Streeting is visiting Liverpool
- Today: Rachel Reeves makes comments to the media
- 11.30am: Downing Street holds its daily media briefing
- Today: Keir Starmer announces government plans for the Britain's first nuclear power project at Wylfa on the island of Anglesey