The dreaded Starmer vote of confidence: PM gives his top aide McSweeney fateful backing as he kills probe into brutal Cabinet briefings – saying he doesn’t believe they came from No10

Keir Starmer is desperately trying to support his top aide today amid a Labor Party meltdown over a brutal briefing against the Cabinet.

The Prime Minister expressed ‘confidence’ in his private secretary Morgan McSweeney after receiving ‘reassurances’ that no one from No 10 was involved in the extraordinary pre-emptive strike against Wes Streeting’s alleged leadership maneuver.

The effort to draw a line under the issue comes despite the Health Secretary issuing an angry response yesterday accusing Downing Street of ‘self-destruction’ and calling on the prime minister to sack the culprits.

While fingers have been pointed at Mr McSweeney, Labor insiders fear the pair are too closely knit to survive Sir Keir’s departure.

The party leader announced an investigation last night and Chancellor Rachel Reeves said this afternoon that she ‘thought’ there would be a leak investigation.

But on his visit to North Wales, Sir Keir effectively closed that possibility.

Asked if he trusted Mr McSweeney, he said: ‘Of course I do. I work closely with my entire team. Our focus is on working for the country.’

Sir Keir’s vote of confidence was not always a fluke. Days before Angela Rayner was forced to resign for underpaying stamp duty in September, she gave the same support, saying she was “proud” of her deputy and that “underestimating him” was a “big mistake”.

The Prime Minister also memorably expressed his ‘confidence’ in Lord Mandelson at that month’s PMQs, despite backlash over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. He was removed from his position as US ambassador shortly afterwards.

PM expressed ‘confidence’ in chief of staff Morgan McSweeney after receiving ‘reassurances’ that no one from No 10 was involved in extraordinary pre-emptive strike against Wes Streeting’s alleged leadership maneuver

Speaking in North Wales this afternoon, Sir Keir said: ‘Firstly, I would like to make clear that any briefing against ministers is completely unacceptable. This is not a new position for me, it is a position I have adopted since I became Prime Minister. I made this clear to my team.

‘I talked to my team today. ‘I was assured from No 10 that there was no briefing against ministers, but I made it clear that I found this completely unacceptable.’

He added: ‘I was assured that it was not coming from Downing Street, but I was equally clear that I intended to deal with it, whether this or another case.’

Asked whether he would sack those responsible, Sir Keir said: ‘I will certainly deal with anyone responsible for briefing ministers, Cabinet ministers or other ministers. I’ve always said this is the standard I expect and this is the standard I will apply.’

The Prime Minister’s spokesman denied the process amounted to ‘whitewashing’, saying Sir Keir had made clear there would be consequences if people were briefed.

Sir Keir apologized to Mr Streeting last night when they spoke for the first time since the crisis broke out.

In brutal PMQs, he denied ‘allowing’ any barbs against his own ministers. ‘Any attack on any member of my cabinet is completely unacceptable,’ he said.

Asked by Kemi Badenoch whether he trusted Mr McSweeney, Sir Keir did not respond, instead saying everyone in the government was ‘absolutely focused on serving the good of the country’.

The Prime Minister’s press secretary later said unauthorized attacks would be ‘dealt with’ but claimed briefings to Mr Streeting had come from outside Downing Street and revealed Sir Keir had confidence in Mr McSweeney.

Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband was dispatched to field questions in TV studios this morning.

‘I have spoken to Keir before about these types of briefings. “As he always said, if he finds that person he will get rid of them and I firmly believe he will do that,” he told Sky News.

Asked if he thought Sir Keir would sack this person, he said: ‘Sure, yes.’

He also said briefings were a ‘long-standing aspect’ of politics, noting that there had been ‘many briefings’ under Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

‘Look, I think the briefing was bad, there’s no doubt about it. But my message to Labor today is quite simple: We need to focus on the country, not ourselves,” he told Sky News.

He added: ‘Turbulence is part of the job, part of the DNA of being in government.’

A source said Sir Keir had apologized to Mr Streeting for the briefing campaign, without going into detail. The pair did not talk about Mr. McSweeney and soon decided to talk again.

Mr Streeting refused to revisit “yesterday’s news” when asked during a visit to Paddington Community Diagnostic Center in Liverpool.

‘I have no idea,’ he said. I don’t care about the question of whether the Prime Minister investigated the source of the attacks against him.

Labor leader Anna Turley said last night that Sir Keir would conduct an investigation.

He told ITV: ‘We will investigate and see what happens as a result.

‘But the truth is, he is very clear; It’s not in his name. That’s not what he wants to see and he’s determined to eliminate it.’

The Labor leader added: ‘He was not aware of this briefing… He will take action to make sure this doesn’t happen again.’

Asked about calls for Mr McSweeney to be sacked, Ms Turley dismissed suggestions that she was behind the briefings as ‘blabbermouth’ and said ‘we don’t know who is responsible’.

Even his admirers admit that Mr McSweeney, the campaign architect, may be on ‘borrowed time’. But one Labor veteran has warned his long-time ally Keir would follow him if he had to go.

Leadership rumors are sweeping Westminster, with Labor in historic polls, and Sir Keir’s friends fear he could be dethroned if the budget, which is expected to include huge tax increases, falls badly.

Furious MPs accused No 10 of ‘losing the plot’, pointing to powerful chief of staff Morgan McSweeney

The attack from Number 10 apparently coincided with Mr Streeting touring broadcast studios yesterday morning for a major NHS announcement.

The Conservatives accused Sir Keir of ‘machine-gunning’ his own ministers rather than ‘putting the country together’.

Tom Baldwin, Sir Keir’s biographer and known close ally, insisted the Prime Minister was ‘going nowhere’.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today program that Mr McSweeney should focus on his core role rather than briefing journalists.

Mr Baldwin said: ‘He is very, very important to Keir Starmer and I suspect he will remain… I think he should continue to do the job that he has been given, which is chief of staff.’