Ed Miliband Urges Labour to Focus Forward After Keir Starmer Offers Apology to Wes Streeting for Negative Briefings
High-ranking Labour official Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has called for the party to move beyond internal tensions after PM Keir Starmer personally apologised to Health Secretary Wes Streeting over negative media stories coming from Downing Street.
Important Developments
- Miliband confirms Starmer will dismiss the No 10 source behind for briefing against Wes Streeting if found
- The Energy Secretary rejects any party leader plans, declaring his previous time as leader was the "strongest inoculation" against seeking the position again
- UK economic growth increased by just 0.1% in the July-September period, impacted by the Jaguar Land Rover cyber-attack
Situation
The political unrest started after media stories emerged about hostile briefings from the Prime Minister's supporters targeting Streeting. Despite initial efforts to minimize the matter, the conversation between Starmer and the health minister reportedly took a more serious direction.
Starmer apologised to Streeting, journalists have been told. The discussion was brief, and they did not discuss Morgan McSweeney, whom the PM is now under pressure to dismiss.
Miliband's Reaction
In his morning broadcast interviews, Ed Miliband emphasized the need for the party to concentrate on national matters rather than party divisions.
Look, I think the media briefing has been damaging, certainly.
But my advice to the Labour members now is quite simple, which is we need to focus on the public, not our internal matters.
We were given a historic mandate last July, a major opportunity to improve our nation. And we have a major responsibility.
Economic Update
In other news, government figures indicated the UK economic performance expanded by just 0.1% in the July-September period, with the manufacturing industry particularly affected by the recently reported JLR security incident.
The Day's Agenda
- 9.30am: NHS England releases its latest statistics
- Morning: The Health Secretary is visiting Liverpool
- Today: Rachel Reeves makes comments to the press
- 11.30am: Downing Street holds its regular media briefing
- Morning: The Prime Minister promotes government plans for the UK's first nuclear power project at Wylfa site on the island of Anglesey
