Markus Andrews

Sir Keir Starmer could face a leadership challenge as early as the new year, as Labour MPs claim the prime minister is now unable to sack his chief of staff because it would hasten his own departure.In a bid to draw a line under the turmoil that has engulfed his government this week, Sir Keir insisted he had been assured that no one in Downing Street was responsible for the briefing against his health secretary, Wes Streeting, on Tuesday.The briefing, which is being blamed on chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, suggested that Mr Streeting was preparing to launch a leadership coup. But even as the prime minister sought to end the row by apologising to Mr Streeting, calls for sackings continued to grow.Energy secretary Ed Miliband, who has also been accused of being on manoeuvres to replace Sir Keir, repeated demands by Mr Streeting that the person responsible be sacked.Mr Miliband, asked whether the prime minister should sack whoever is found to be responsible for the briefings, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Of course he should.”Meanwhile, another minister said: “He should sack [Mr McSweeney] but we all know he can’t. They are locked together in mutual survival.”Others said Mr McSweeney was “probably unsackable” but added that the prime minister “should be very worried”.Another set of briefings against Sir Keir’s director of communications, Tim Allan, appears to suggest that a civil war has broken out among senior figures in Downing Street.The prime minister says he has confidence in his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney More

The former chairman of NatWest Bank has launched a broadside against Rachel Reeves, claiming it appears as though she is doing everything she can to prevent economic growth. Economist Sir Howard Davies’ criticism of the chancellor comes less than two weeks ahead of a crucial budget which many believe could make or break the government. While Keir Starmer and Ms Reeves came into office claiming that economic growth was their number one mission, the economy has stagnated, and new figures published on Thursday show UK economic growth slowed to 0.1 per cent for the past three months. Sir Howard blamed the policies she has brought in, including increasing national insurance contributions on employers and new employment rights, for the dire state of Britain’s economy. ( More

A Reform council leader has jumped to the defence of a party councillor who was criticised over social media posts he made about the police and black women.In now-deleted posts on X written before he was elected onto Staffordshire Country Council, Councillor Peter Mason called the police “a bunch of politically indoctrinated British hating scum”. In another post, from March 2024, he wrote: “What a surprise a statue of a fat arsed black woman.” After the posts came to light, Councillor Mason, who is also the cabinet member for highways at the council, apologised and said he regretted his choice of words. In the statement, he sent to The Independent, he added that the posts were written during a difficult personal time when he was impacted by grief and redundancy.However, political opponents at the council have called for him to step down, including Conservative group leader Philip White, who described the posts as “abhorrent”.In response, Ian Cooper, leader of Staffordshire County Council, sent an email to Reform councillors to defend Councillor Mason, claiming he had come under “targeted political attack” since standing for Reform. Peter Mason, who is cabinet member of highways at Staffordshire County Council, has apologised for the posts on X, written before he was elected More

Ed Miliband responds to Labour coup rumoursThe prime minister’s aides have insisted none of them have engaged in briefing against cabinet ministers, as he warned his senior team they will be fired if they do so.Sir Keir Starmer reiterated on Thursday that he would never sanction briefings against ministers and said they were “unacceptable”.Starmer’s warning comes after Wes Streeting brushed off repeated questions about the anonymous attacks on him as “silly Westminster soap opera stuff”.The prime minister said he had been “assured it didn’t come from Downing Street”, but made clear that if anyone falls below standards expected “there will be consequences”.The prime minister apologised to Mr Streeting after reports that he was plotting to oust Sir Keir earlier this week, sparking the eruption of a civil war within the Labour Party.Concern around leadership has deepened ahead of chancellor Rachel Reeves’s Budget on 26 November, as the UK economy grew by 0.1 per cent in the three months to September, according to the Office of National Statistics. This is a marked slowdown from the 0.3 per cent in the previous quarter.Who is Morgan McSweeney?Sir Keir Starmer has said he “of course” retains full confidence in his under-pressure chief of staff Morgan McSweeney.Mr McSweeney has been blamed by some within Labour for the fallout from the attacks on Wes Streeting, which were an apparent ploy to warn off potential leadership contenders.The Labour Together campaign group was set up by McSweeney, and is credited with toppling Jeremy Corbyn as leader and replacing him with Starmer.An influential figure in the Labour Party, he is also credited with securing their landslide victory last year.( More

Sir Keir Starmer has been warned by Tony Blair’s former Downing Street spin doctor to “get a grip” in No 10 – or risk losing power to Nigel Farage.In a withering attack, Alastair Campbell said public support for the prime minister was “draining away” fast, adding that the government had “no compelling narrative” and had scored “too many own goals”.The intervention by Mr Campbellcomes amid reports that the prime minister has apologised to his health secretary Wes Streeting over a briefing operation conducted against Mr Streeting on Tuesday evening from within Downing Street.Mr Campbell said the prime minister needs to reassert control as Sir Keir faces demands to sack his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, over the claims made by sources that Mr Streeting was preparing to launch a leadership coup.Keir Starmer has apologised to Wes Streeting over a briefing operation against the health secretary from within No 10 More

Peter Mandelson was still in contact with the disgraced paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein as late as 2016, newly released emails show. The UK’s former ambassador to Washington joked with him about his birthday eight years after Epstein was sentenced to 18 months in prison for soliciting prostitution from a minor.Keir Starmer sacked the Labour grandee after the publication of separate emails that showed he had sent supportive messages even as Epstein faced jail for sex offences.The new emails also appear to suggest Mandelson warned Epstein to stay away from Prince Andrew – for his own sake. In one, from November 6, Epstein emails to say “you were right about staying away from Andrew”. Lord Peter Mandelson (Jonathan Brady/PA) More

Sir Keir Starmer is facing a major crisis at the heart of his government after his chief of staff was blamed for a botched effort to prevent a leadership challenge.The prime minister is under pressure to sack Morgan McSweeney over the pre-emptive attempt to see off any coup to oust Sir Keir, with a series of ministers and Labour MPs privately calling for the No 10 chief of staff to go after a day of chaos that has raised serious questions about the government’s future.Wes Streeting, who was targeted in the briefing as a potential challenger, hit back at suggestions he was planning a tilt at the leadership as he criticised a “toxic culture” in Downing Street.Asked at the NHS Providers conference in Manchester about Mr McSweeney, the health secretary responded: “I am not going to add to the toxic culture by contributing to the toxic culture and going after individuals. I don’t think that would be a constructive or positive thing to do, and one thing I would say for Morgan McSweeney is there wouldn’t be a Labour government without him.”As the Tory leader, Kemi Badenoch, went for the kill in a bruising PMQs, Sir Keir refused to take the opportunity to give Mr McSweeney his firm backing. The lack of endorsement suggests Mr McSweeney was behind the briefing and is now in the line of fire.Sir Keir Starmer said his team was focused on delivering for the country More