Energy Secretary Ed Miliband Encourages the Labour Party to Focus Forward Following Keir Starmer Offers Apology to Wes Streeting for Negative Backgrounding
High-ranking Labour Party official Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has demanded the party to put aside party disputes after Prime Minister Keir Starmer directly apologised to health minister Wes Streeting MP over negative briefings coming from the Prime Minister's office.
Key Updates
- Miliband confirms Starmer will sack the Downing Street source responsible for briefing against Streeting if discovered
- Miliband rules out future leadership aspirations, saying his previous experience as Labour leader was the "best vaccine" against wanting the position again
- UK economy grew by just 0.1% in the July-September period, affected by the Jaguar Land Rover security breach
Background
The political unrest erupted after reports surfaced about negative briefings from Starmer's allies targeting the Health Secretary. Despite initial attempts to downplay the situation, the talk between Starmer and Streeting reportedly took a different direction.
The Prime Minister apologised to Streeting, journalists have been told. The discussion was short, and they did not address the chief of staff, whom Starmer is now under pressure to sack.
The Energy Secretary's Response
In his morning media appearances, Ed Miliband stressed the need for the party to concentrate on national issues rather than internal conflicts.
Clearly, I think the briefing has been unhelpful, no question.
But my advice to the party now is quite simple, which is we need to concentrate on the country, not each other.
We were given a significant election win last summer, a major opportunity to change our country. And we have a major obligation.
Economic News
In other news, government statistics showed the British economic performance grew by just 0.1% in the July-September period, with the manufacturing industry especially hit by the recently reported Jaguar Land Rover hack.
Today's Agenda
- 9.30am: The National Health Service publishes its monthly statistics
- Morning: Wes Streeting visits Liverpool
- Today: Rachel Reeves makes comments to the media
- Late morning: Number 10 conducts its daily media briefing
- Morning: Keir Starmer promotes plans for the Britain's first nuclear power plant at Wylfa on the island of Anglesey
