Energy Secretary Ed Miliband Calls on Labour to Focus Forward Following Starmer Says Sorry to Streeting for Aggressive Backgrounding
High-ranking Labour Party figure Ed Miliband has urged the party to move beyond party conflicts after leader Keir Starmer personally said sorry to health minister Wes Streeting MP over hostile leaked comments originating from Number 10.
Major Events
- Ed Miliband states the Prime Minister will dismiss the Downing Street source behind for targeting Streeting if discovered
- Miliband rejects any party leader plans, declaring his past time as leader was the "best vaccine" against seeking the position again
- UK economy expanded by just 0.1% in the third quarter, hit by the JLR cyber-attack
Situation
The internal unrest began after allegations emerged about negative background comments from the Prime Minister's allies targeting Streeting. Although early attempts to downplay the incident, the conversation between Starmer and the health minister according to sources took a different direction.
The Prime Minister apologised to Streeting, journalists have been advised. The discussion was short, and they did not address Morgan McSweeney, whom Starmer is now under growing pressure to remove.
Miliband's Response
In his early morning media interviews, Miliband highlighted the need for the Labour Party to concentrate on country-wide issues rather than internal divisions.
Clearly, I think the briefing has been unhelpful, certainly.
But my call to the party now is quite simple, which is we need to focus on the public, not ourselves.
We were given a major election win last July, a important chance to transform our nation. And we have a serious obligation.
Economic Update
In other news, official data revealed the British economy grew by just 0.1% in the July-September period, with the manufacturing industry especially impacted by the recently reported JLR cyber-attack.
Today's Schedule
- Morning: NHS England issues its latest statistics
- Today: Wes Streeting visits the Liverpool area
- Morning: Rachel Reeves makes comments to the press
- Late morning: Number 10 conducts its daily lobby briefing
- Today: Keir Starmer promotes plans for the Britain's first small modular reactor plant at Wylfa site on Anglesey