“Sir Keir Starmer is currently too “weak” to sack leadership rival Wes Streeting, the UK prime minister’s allies have admitted, as an uneasy truce descended on the Labour party. The health secretary, suspected by Number 10 of being part of a coup attempt, has been forced to put his ambitions on hold, declaring on Tuesday that Starmer had his “full support”. Starmer urged cabinet ministers to get on with their jobs and to bring an end to leadership speculation, which was sparked after Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar called on Monday for the prime minister to quit. With tensions between Number 10 and Streeting running high, Starmer’s team said the aim now was to calm the situation and reach the relative safety of a House of Commons half-term recess, which starts on Thursday. “I don’t think he can sack Wes, I don’t think he has the strength to sack anyone right now,” said one Starmer ally. “He’s too weak.” A member of Starmer’s team said: “Sacking Wes would just uncork even more political chaos of the kind we’re trying to avoid.” Streeting told reporters that Starmer had not threatened to sack him. Streeting’s team strongly denied the health secretary was working with Sarwar to bring down the prime minister, in what was seen by cabinet ministers as a failed coup.” – Financial Times
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“Sir Keir Starmer’s former media chief has been suspended from Labour over his links to a convicted sex offender after the Prime Minister faced pressure over the issue from his own MPs, The i Paper has learnt. Matthew Doyle, who now sits in the House of Lords, has had the Labour whip withdrawn over his campaigning for Sean Morton, an ex-Labour councillor in Moray, Scotland, after the candidate was charged with possessing indecent images of children in December 2016. Morton later admitted sex offences. It comes after The i Paper approached No 10 and Baron Doyle over pressure applied by Labour MPs on Starmer to address the issue as the PM addressed a meeting of the parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) while fighting for his political future. In a statement, Doyle apologised for his past association with Morton and admitted “extremely limited” contact with him after his conviction. Starmer asked Doyle to give up the whip after seeing off a botched coup attempt over links between another of his appointees – Peter Mandelson – and the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.” – The i
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> Today:
“Kemi Badenoch accused Labour of a “shameful assault” on our high streets amid warnings of a pandemic-like apocalypse for small businesses. The Conservative leader insisted she can reverse the decline of the nation’s town centres and kickstart a jobs boom. And she vowed to end the scourge of boarded-up shops which she blames on Labour’s punishing JobsTax and sky-high business rates. Mrs Badenoch told the Express: “This Government is hammering our high streets out of existence. I’ve spoken to businesses across the country, all of whom say that Labour’s endless tax rises and red tape are making it so much harder for them to stay afloat. This is a shameful assault on the very heart of so many communities, and it cannot continue.” Her blistering attack comes as a new report revealed soaring business rates, wage costs and energy prices are killing the high street with 38 shops closing every day.” – Daily Express
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