Sir Keir Starmer is with his Cabinet on Tuesday morning hours after the Health Secretary Wes Streeting revealed he shared messages with Peter Mandelson over the lack of “no growth strategy.”
Starmer told his Cabinet on Monday after he was fighting hour by hour to save his political career, “After having fought so hard for the chance to change our country, I’m not prepared to walk away from my mandate and my responsibility to my country, or to plunge us into chaos as others have done.
“I have won every fight I’ve ever been in.”
However, on Tuesday morning Starmer was given another migraine after the Health Secretary revealed he was messaging Mandelson, telling Sky News he has “nothing to hide,” after all the former peer was in government at the time.
It has been revealed that Mandelson sent Streeting a message, “The government doesn’t have an economic philosophy which is then followed through in a programme of policies.”
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Streeting’s reply was, “No growth strategy at all.
Following this revelation ministers are now banned from revealing any messages they may have received from Mandelson whilst he was in government.
The Cabinet Office Propriety and Ethics team contacted ministers on Monday evening telling them not to publish anything with regard to Mandelson.
A left-wing Labour source fumed on Monday evening, “Everyone from the PM down to the most junior bag carrier knows who was behind the McChicken Coup. And his name rhymes with Les Weeting.”
Another MP said, “Today’s events were so clearly manipulated and co-ordinated by the Wes Streeting campaign, but they catastrophically failed when he bottled it.
He doesn’t have the kind of support he thinks he does and today proves it, not least because of his very close and long-standing relationship with Peter Mandelson.”
Streeting has been accused of leading a leadership coup against Starmer as it has been revealed that the Health Secretary “spoke to Anas Sarwar before scathing anti-Starmer speech.”
A spokesman for the Health Secretary said that Streeting “did not ask” the Scottish leader to attack Starmer and he “did not coordinate with Anas on this.”
The spokesman said, “Anas is the leader of the Scottish Labour Party. He is his own man, and Wes has the highest respect for him.
“At the same time as Wes was in an interview saying that Keir needed a chance to set out his case and his plan, No10 was briefing that Wes had told Anas Sarwar to make his statement. This is the problem.”
Trade union Unite has revealed that they could “cut ties with Labour” sooner than planned as they believe Starmer’s party no longer values workers.
General Secretary Sharon Graham described Labour as “rudderless” and “austerity lite,” adding that they are a “failing leadership.”
Graham said, “There is much agonising right now about whether, when and who should replace the Prime Minister. That is inevitable.
But a new Labour leader with the same policies won’t cut it.
