Miliband Urges Starmer to Fire Any Aides Who Made Plot Claims

Keir Starmer Photographer: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Photo by Dan Kitwood /Photographer: Dan Kitwood/Getty

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(Bloomberg) — Energy Secretary Ed Miliband called on Keir Starmer to fire any Downing Street aides responsible for anonymous allegations of leadership plots, after the prime minister was forced to apologize to another cabinet minister swept up in the claims. 

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Miliband, who led the Labour Party from 2010 to 2015, said on Thursday that he believed Starmer would remove anyone involved in media briefings against Health Secretary Wes Streeting. The energy secretary acknowledged during an appearance on the BBC that plot claims widely attributed to allies of Starmer had contributed to “a bad couple of days” for the government. 

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“They should be sacked,” Miliband said. “I know the prime minister will want to find who that person is and will get rid of them if he can find it.”

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Starmer expressed his regret for the episode late Wednesday in a brief telephone conversation with Streeting, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named discussing private conversations. The prime minister had told the House of Commons earlier that he didn’t personally authorize media briefings against a cabinet minister, calling any such attack “completely unacceptable.”

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Streeting — one of the best-known members of Starmer’s cabinet — denied conspiring to get rid of his boss. The health secretary professed his loyalty to the prime minister in a series of broadcast interviews, and accused Downing Street aides of mounting a “totally self-defeating” campaign against him.

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Labour Party chair, Anna Turley, told ITV she had spoken to Starmer and that he would be holding an investigation into who briefed the criticism of Streeting. “He’s going to take action to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Turley said.

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The leadership worries spilled into the open late Tuesday, when Starmer supporters briefed journalists that they believed Streeting was plotting to replace him as Labour leader. The move shattered the illusion of cabinet unity weeks ahead of a contentious budget and renewed private calls for Starmer to fire top aides, including his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney. 

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Starmer pointedly passed up an opportunity to express support for McSweeney under questioning by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch in the Commons. “Morgan McSweeney, my team and I are absolutely focused on delivering for the country,” Starmer said, although a press secretary later clarified that the premier did have confidence in his top aide.

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Badenoch said that Starmer appeared to have lost control of his office. “The real scandal is that, two weeks from a budget, the government has descended into civil war,” she said. 

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Miliband denied any interest in replacing Starmer as Labour leader. He has been viewed by some as an experienced choice on the party’s left, with LabourList and Survation polling showing him to be the most popular cabinet minister among members, although his previous stint included leading the then-opposition party to defeat to the Conservatives in 2015. 

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“I had the best inoculation technique against wanting to be leader of the Labour Party because I was leader of the Labour Party between 2010 and 2015,” Miliband said during a separate BBC appearance. “I’ve got the T-shirt — that chapter’s closed.”

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