\n<\/p>\n
Good morning. All governments are collections of people who don\u2019t always agree, and don\u2019t always get on, but who largely keep their disagreements in private. But sometimes the disputes get quite serious, and sometimes they become public. The Guardian is today leading on a report by Pippa Crerar<\/strong>, the political editor, who has discovered that Keir Starmer\u2019s most senior aides are so worried that he could face an imminent leadership challenge that they have started briefing against potential rivals.<\/p>\n <\/span>Guardian splash<\/span> Photograph: Guardian<\/p>\n Starmer\u2019s allies are saying that getting rid of the PM would be would be a \u201creckless\u201d and \u201cdangerous\u201d move that could destabilise the markets, and they seem to be particularly worried about the threat from Wes Streeting, the health secretary.<\/p>\n Some lobby stories like this, based on people speaking anonymously, get ignored, because other journalists either don\u2019t believe them, or can\u2019t stand them up. But this morning all other mainstream news organisations are following this story, and running it quite hard, because they know Pippa is right.<\/p>\n Streeting has been doing a media round this morning. Here are some of the main things he said in his interview with Sky News.<\/p>\n No, and I think whoever\u2019s been briefing this has been watching too much Celebrity Traitors, and this is just about the worst attack on a faithful I\u2019ve seen since Joe Marler was kicked out and banished in the final.<\/p>\n Yes, and nor did I shoot JFK. I don\u2019t know where Lord Lucan is, had nothing to do with Shergar, and I do think that the US did manage to do the moon landings. I don\u2019t think they were fake.<\/p>\n It\u2019s totally self defeating briefing, not least because it\u2019s not true and I don\u2019t understand how anyone thinks it\u2019s helpful to the prime minister either \u2026<\/p>\n I do think that, you know, going out and calling your Labour MPs \u2018feral\u2019 is not very helpful. I do think that trying to kneecap one of your own team when they are out, not just making the case for the government, but actually delivering the change that we promised, I think that is also self-defeating and self-destructive behaviour.<\/p>\n I also think whoever did this doesn\u2019t speak for the prime minister. I speak for the prime minister.<\/p>\n When Lucy Powell stood to be deputy leader of the Labour Party and said there needed to be a culture change in how we lead and how the party is managed, I think she has been vindicated.<\/p>\n Powell, who won, defeated Bridget Phillipson, who was seen as No 10\u2019s preferred candidate. Powell stood after being sacked by Starmer from cabinet.<\/p>\n Streeting has been doing a full interview round. I will post more from what he is saying soon.<\/p>\n Here is the agenda for the day.<\/p>\n 9.45am:<\/em> Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem deputy leader and Treasury spokesperson, gives a speech about her party\u2019s budget proposals.<\/p>\n Noon:<\/em> Keir Starmer faces Kemi Badenoch at PMQs.<\/p>\n After 12.30pm:<\/em> MPs debate two Tory opposition day motions, one saying taxes should not go up in the budget, and another saying the government should remove green levies on energy bills.<\/p>\n 1.45pm:<\/em> Wes Streeting, the health secretary, gives a speech to the NHS Providers conference.<\/p>\n If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (normally between 10am and 3pm at the moment), or message me on social media. I can\u2019t read all the messages BTL, but if you put \u201cAndrew\u201d in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.<\/p>\n If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X, but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.<\/p>\n I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can\u2019t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.<\/p>\n <\/span>Wes Streeting on Sky News this morning.<\/span> Photograph: Sky NewsShare<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a003.55 EST<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n <\/span>Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n In his BBC Breakfast interview, Jon Kay<\/strong> asked Wes Streeting if he would ever stand against Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership.<\/p>\n Streeting<\/strong> replied:<\/p>\n I cannot see circumstances in which I would do that to our prime minister.<\/p>\n And, look, the thing I\u2019ve said about the prime minister constantly and consistently is from the moment he became leader of the Labour party, he has had an extremely difficult job.<\/p>\n He took us from the worst defeat since 1935 to winning a general election that many people thought he could never win.<\/p>\n We have now got enormous challenges we\u2019re facing as a country. I know there are people who are doubting and saying, well, can he deal with those challenges? He will confound his critics again. Those things have never been in doubt.<\/p>\n Kay<\/strong> put it to Streeting that, in saying he could not see circumstances in which he would not challenge Starmer, he was not ruling it out.<\/p>\n Streeting<\/strong> said he was just making a statement of \u201cthe bleeding obvious\u201d.<\/p>\n When Kay<\/strong> said Streeting was not ruling out running against Starmer, Streeting<\/strong> replied: \u201cI just did \u2026 I literally just did.\u201d<\/p>\n Streeting\u2019s comment is reminiscent of Michael Heseltine<\/strong> saying that he could not \u201cforesee any circumstances\u201d in which he would challenge Margaret Thatcher \u2013 a line he used for some years in the 1980s after he resigned from cabinet. Eventually his foresight proved faulty, and in 1990 he did challenge Thatcher.<\/p>\n But the circumstances then were very different. Streeting sounded like someone trying to play down the prospect of a leadership challenge one day, not play it up.<\/p>\n Also, the question is not always relevant. Often, when a leader gets replaced, it\u2019s not because there has been a challenge; it\u2019s because they resign having lost the confidence of their party.<\/p>\n <\/span>Wes Streeting outside Millband broadcasting studios this morning.<\/span> Photograph: Phil Noble\/ReutersShare<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a004.40 EST<\/p>\n In his interview with BBC Breakfast, Wes Streeting<\/strong> expanded on what he said to Sky News about Lucy Powell being right about the need for Labour to change its culture. (See 8.25am.) Standing for deputy leader, Powell criticised the briefing culture in No 10, of which she felt she had been a victim.<\/p>\n Streeting said:<\/p>\n This silly briefing is water off a duck\u2019s back. We\u2019ve seen this before against other cabinet colleagues. I think our deputy leader, Lucy Powell, was absolutely right about that toxic culture that needs to change. I don\u2019t think these people are speaking for the prime minister. I don\u2019t think this is the sort of behaviour he expects from people who work for him and for the government. So on all that, I\u2019m not worried.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n The Labour MP Jo White<\/strong>, who chairs the Red Wall group of Labour Mps and who represents Bassetlaw, told the Today programme this morning that those in No 10 who were briefing against Wes Streeting were making a big mistake. She explained:<\/p>\n Our enemies love nothing more than when we start fighting like dogs in public, and my message to those MPs who are running around with their tails held high: That this is neither the time or the place.<\/p>\n This is a group of people who think they\u2019re much cleverer than the rest of us, who spend their time selectively briefing journalists and stirring the pot. I want to simply say: We\u2019re not having it \u2026<\/p>\n I\u2019d like to say to No 10, I think they\u2019re barking up the wrong tree, briefing against Wes.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve known Wes since he was NUS president. He\u2019s one of the tiny handful of MPs who came up to Bassetlaw to help me with my election. He\u2019s only just recently written a really kind letter to one of my members who lost her husband. And I think I\u2019d know \u2013 he\u2019d tell me if he was manoeuvring.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n In an interview with LBC, Wes Streeting<\/strong>, the health secretary, said that some of the comments being made about the situation in government were \u201cridiculous\u201d and that Keir Starmer was \u201cnot fightint for his job\u201d. Streeting said:<\/p>\n I\u2019m laughing because I just think this is ridiculous.<\/p>\n And no, the prime minister is not fighting for his job this morning.<\/p>\n In fact, the last time I saw the prime minister, on Monday evening with a small group of cabinet colleagues, was to talk about how we\u2019re going to fight the scourge of violence against women and girls. So I think this is daft, to be honest.<\/p>\n <\/span>Wes Streeting arriving at the Millbank broadcasting studios in Westminster today.<\/span> Photograph: Hannah McKay\/ReutersShare<\/p>\n Wes Streeting<\/strong> told Sky News that he thought Keir Starmer would be \u201chorrified\u201d to read the front page reports this morning about the briefing coming out of No 10. He said that was not how Starmer conducted himself, and he said he thought people should follow the PM\u2019s example.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n UK government borrowing costs ticked higher this morning, as the price of gilts \u2013 UK government bonds \u2013 slipped in value amid speculation over a leadership challenge to Keir Starmer, PA Media reports. PA says:<\/p>\n Yields on 10-year-gilts, which move counter to the price of the bonds, rose by 3 basis points to 4.42% in early trading. The yield on the longer-term 30-year-gilt also rose by a similar amount.<\/p>\n The rise come after yields had dropped significantly on Tuesday after rising unemployment and falling wage growth prompted predictions of interest rate cuts.<\/p>\n The value of the pound also moved 0.02% higher to 1.315 against the dollar.<\/p>\n It came after a flurry of late-night briefings from No 10 in which allies of the prime minister came out fighting on his behalf amid fears his job could be under threat after the budget in two weeks\u2019 time.<\/p>\n Share<\/p>\n Good morning. All governments are collections of people who don\u2019t always agree, and don\u2019t always get on, but who largely keep their disagreements in private. But sometimes the disputes get quite serious, and sometimes they become public. The Guardian is today leading on a report by Pippa Crerar<\/strong>, the political editor, who has discovered that Keir Starmer\u2019s most senior aides are so worried that he could face an imminent leadership challenge that they have started briefing against potential rivals.<\/p>\n <\/span>Guardian splash<\/span> Photograph: Guardian<\/p>\n Starmer\u2019s allies are saying that getting rid of the PM would be would be a \u201creckless\u201d and \u201cdangerous\u201d move that could destabilise the markets, and they seem to be particularly worried about the threat from Wes Streeting, the health secretary.<\/p>\n Some lobby stories like this, based on people speaking anonymously, get ignored, because other journalists either don\u2019t believe them, or can\u2019t stand them up. But this morning all other mainstream news organisations are following this story, and running it quite hard, because they know Pippa is right.<\/p>\n Streeting has been doing a media round this morning. Here are some of the main things he said in his interview with Sky News.<\/p>\n No, and I think whoever\u2019s been briefing this has been watching too much Celebrity Traitors, and this is just about the worst attack on a faithful I\u2019ve seen since Joe Marler was kicked out and banished in the final.<\/p>\n Yes, and nor did I shoot JFK. I don\u2019t know where Lord Lucan is, had nothing to do with Shergar, and I do think that the US did manage to do the moon landings. I don\u2019t think they were fake.<\/p>\n It\u2019s totally self defeating briefing, not least because it\u2019s not true and I don\u2019t understand how anyone thinks it\u2019s helpful to the prime minister either \u2026<\/p>\n I do think that, you know, going out and calling your Labour MPs \u2018feral\u2019 is not very helpful. I do think that trying to kneecap one of your own team when they are out, not just making the case for the government, but actually delivering the change that we promised, I think that is also self-defeating and self-destructive behaviour.<\/p>\n I also think whoever did this doesn\u2019t speak for the prime minister. I speak for the prime minister.<\/p>\n When Lucy Powell stood to be deputy leader of the Labour Party and said there needed to be a culture change in how we lead and how the party is managed, I think she has been vindicated.<\/p>\n Powell, who won, defeated Bridget Phillipson, who was seen as No 10\u2019s preferred candidate. Powell stood after being sacked by Starmer from cabinet.<\/p>\n Streeting has been doing a full interview round. I will post more from what he is saying soon.<\/p>\n Here is the agenda for the day.<\/p>\n 9.45am:<\/em> Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem deputy leader and Treasury spokesperson, gives a speech about her party\u2019s budget proposals.<\/p>\n Noon:<\/em> Keir Starmer faces Kemi Badenoch at PMQs.<\/p>\n After 12.30pm:<\/em> MPs debate two Tory opposition day motions, one saying taxes should not go up in the budget, and another saying the government should remove green levies on energy bills.<\/p>\n 1.45pm:<\/em> Wes Streeting, the health secretary, gives a speech to the NHS Providers conference.<\/p>\n If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (normally between 10am and 3pm at the moment), or message me on social media. I can\u2019t read all the messages BTL, but if you put \u201cAndrew\u201d in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.<\/p>\n If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X, but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.<\/p>\n I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can\u2019t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.<\/p>\n <\/span>Wes Streeting on Sky News this morning.<\/span> Photograph: Sky NewsShare<\/p>\n Updated at\u00a003.55 EST<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Wes Streeting condemns No 10 bid to \u2018kneecap\u2019 him, denies plotting against PM, but says Labour needs ‘culture change’ Good morning. All governments are collections of people who don\u2019t always agree, and don\u2019t always get on, but who largely keep their disagreements in private. But sometimes the disputes get quite serious, and sometimes they become<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[1043,270,956,3037,1121,132,124,1347,1225,1577],"class_list":{"0":"post-32991","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-briefing","9":"tag-change","10":"tag-culture","11":"tag-doesnt","12":"tag-labours","13":"tag-live","14":"tag-politics","15":"tag-starmer","16":"tag-streeting","17":"tag-toxic"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Streeting says he ‘cannot see circumstances’ in which he would challenge Starmer for Labour leadership<\/h2>\n
Streeting says Labour’s ‘toxic’ briefing culture needs to change – but that it doesn’t come from Starmer<\/h2>\n
Jo White, chair of Red Wall group of Labour MPs, says No 10 ‘barking up wrong tree’ briefing against Streeting<\/h2>\n
Starmer ‘is not fighting for his job’, Streeting says<\/h2>\n
Streeting says Starmer will be ‘horrified’ by reports of No 10 briefing<\/h2>\n
UK government borrowing costs rise slightly after reports suggest PM’s position not secure<\/h2>\n
Wes Streeting condemns No 10 bid to \u2018kneecap\u2019 him, denies plotting against PM, but says Labour needs ‘culture change’<\/h2>\n