Embattled UK leader Keir Starmer insisted Thursday he still had confidence in his most senior aide after a briefing row exposed divisions at the top of his struggling government.
Infighting at the heart of the Labour administration is being fuelled by fears that it is on course to lose power to the hard-right Reform UK party at the next election.
Starmer told broadcasters that “of course” he still has full confidence in chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, who many lawmakers have blamed for verbal attacks on other government ministers.
Earlier this week, anonymous sources briefed several British media outlets that Health Secretary Wes Streeting and other ministers were plotting to try to oust Starmer as premier.
The briefings, which said Starmer would “fight” any leadership challenge, were seen as a pre-emptive attempt to ward off any moves for his job but appear to have backfired.
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Streeting, 42, spent most of Wednesday denying that he planned to launch a coup and calling for the prime minister to sack whoever was behind the comments.
Starmer, who Downing Street confirmed had apologised to Streeting, said he had “been assured” that the briefings had not come from his Number 10 office.
“I will absolutely deal with anybody responsible for briefing against ministers,” Starmer said during a visit to Wales, adding that such behaviour was “absolutely unacceptable”.
Backed Then Sacked
In recent months, Starmer has insisted he has full confidence in senior figures Angela Rayner and Peter Mandelson, only for both of them to then lose their jobs.
Rayner resigned as deputy prime minister for underpaying a property tax, while Mandelson was sacked as ambassador to the US over his friendship with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Starmer, 63, returned Labour to government after 14 years in opposition with a landslide general election victory in July last year.
But his government’s popularity has subsequently tanked due to several policy missteps and a failure to ease the cost of living crisis and reduce irregular migration.
Labour has trailed Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, by double-digit margins for most of this year, although the next election is not due until 2029.
Labour MPs are growing increasingly anxious about a budget due on November 26 when the party is expected to break a pre-election pledge not to raise income tax.
They also fear a bloodbath in local polls scheduled for May.
McSweeney has become a lightning rod for criticism within Labour, especially from lawmakers on the left who feel he has moved to party too far rightwards.
AFP
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