Pressure grows on Starmer to sack chief of staff over briefing row | Labour

Keir Starmer is under intense pressure from a wide range of ministers and MPs to sack his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney after No 10 was accused of an extraordinary briefing operation against health secretary Wes Streeting.

Starmer is understood to have told MPs he would not sack the chief of staff and would not respond to various requests to ensure there would be “consequences” for briefers.

Shocked Labor MPs and ministers blamed Starmer’s most senior aide for the consequences of an apparently orchestrated plot to fire a warning shot at leadership hopefuls, including Streeting.

However, the health secretary appeared encouraged by the debate, as he praised MPs’ strong media performance and at least one Labor-backing union was inclined to back him if a vacancy occurred.

Starmer has also moved to calm relations with Streeting privately with offers of what one source described as “peace talks”.

Downing Street was forced to clarify its position after Starmer appeared to dodge a question about whether he fully trusted the chief of staff with the prime minister’s questions. “Morgan McSweeney, my team, and I are absolutely focused on serving this country,” he had replied.

But on Wednesday afternoon he was directly called on by Labor MPs on the party’s reserve committee to sack the briefers but said he would not do so. One MP who was there said the prime minister had “lost his dressing room”.

In a bid to contain the row, Labor leader Anna Turley told ITV on Wednesday evening that there would be an investigation into who briefed against Streeting and that Starmer would take action against the culprit; This was something the Prime Minister had not committed to in previous meetings with MPs.

A No 10 source said that despite outwardly praising Starmer, his anger was still focused on Streeting. Another said he was disappointed that the health minister opposed the government’s approach to many issues, including social assistance, digital identity and Gaza.

Starmer and Streeting spoke briefly on Wednesday; It was the first time the two had been in contact since the briefing war began. Starmer is said to have apologized to the health minister but refrained from making any further commitments and said they should talk again soon.

“Keir is clear that Wes is a highly effective minister, with good communication skills and who has his full support,” a Downing Street source said. “There was no direct briefing from anyone against Wes.”

One strategist said the aim behind the briefings was not to make a mark against Streeting specifically, but to warn Labor MPs of the potentially fatal consequences of any leadership battle and to make the point that Starmer would fight hard for his position.

Streeting angrily defended his actions on Wednesday’s morning show, saying: “The person reporting this watches too much Famous Traitors. This is the most unfair attack on the faithful since Joe Marler was exiled in the finale.”

But the timing of Downing Street’s remarkable intervention, which the Guardian revealed on Tuesday night focused on whether McSweeney could survive in office, has left Labor MPs scratching their heads.

Many people told the Guardian that the attacks on Streeting and the health secretary’s subsequent defiant appearance on breakfast TV had strengthened any future leadership campaign.

Even former allies of the prime minister’s chief of staff said their views on the 48-year-old McSweeney had changed. One minister said: “Morgan will have to go. But that won’t save Keir.”

Business secretary Chris Bryant told the BBC his aides should view politics as a “team sport”. He said: “It’s a bit stupid for someone from the coach’s team to hobble one of the players before the game.”

One cabinet minister said: “If this was a planned campaign to support the Prime Minister then it had the opposite effect; it backfired spectacularly. I don’t see how Morgan can survive when Keir is left weaker than before.”

A cabinet source said: “There is growing consensus in the cabinet that he should go. “I am devastated about this.

“I keep thinking there must be a larger strategy that I don’t understand. But I think they just need to have an enemy. That’s become their Achilles’ heel.”

Another cabinet source added: “I think the scales are falling in people’s eyes [about Morgan]. “I don’t know what’s worse that this was done with Keir’s permission or that Keir is so out of control.”

One minister said they thought Number 10’s paranoia was partly justified. “I will defend them to some extent because everyone can see that Wes is actually running a leadership campaign and that is being talked about in the PLP. [parliamentary Labour party]. We know this. We can see this.

“But I don’t think they wanted to make it personal about Wes and that was their biggest mistake. They wanted to show that Keir had a fight inside him and it ended in disaster.”

Streeting’s allies were among those who said McSweeney should be sacked after a dramatic 24 hours in which the health secretary flatly denied planning to launch a coup against the prime minister after the budget.

A source close to the health secretary said: “Keir gave Wes his full support at the PMQs. It is simply not true that Wes is preparing to challenge Keir.”

Government insiders said there was now pressure on the prime minister “from many different quarters” over McSweeney. A source said: “The guns were pointed at Keir because he was so dependent on him for political advice.”

Two No 10 sources said relations between McSweeney and the prime minister’s principal secretary, Darren Jones, had also deteriorated. Jones is understood to be frustrated with how often the government’s attention is drawn to scandals, briefings and counter-briefings.

MPs now believe home secretary Shabana Mahmood is McSweeney’s preferred successor to Starmer, and the two worked closely together when Mahmood was election coordinator at Labor Party HQ.

A source close to Mahmood said it was “nonsense” for him to run any leadership operation and that he was focused on major asylum changes to be announced shortly.