Sir Keir Starmer has said he “of course” retains full confidence in his under-pressure chief of staff Morgan McSweeney after being “assured that no briefing against ministers was done from No 10”.
The Prime Minister vowed to “absolutely deal with anybody responsible” for the briefing war that erupted at the top of the Labour Government.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting meanwhile refused to revisit “yesterday’s news” after a tumultuous day in which he criticised the “toxic” culture in Downing Street following anonymous claims he was plotting to unseat Sir Keir.
Despite calls to overhaul his No 10 operation and sack Mr McSweeney, the Prime Minister threw his weight behind his long-time ally.
During a visit to North Wales on Thursday, Sir Keir told reporters: “First let me be clear that any briefing against ministers is completely unacceptable. That is not a new position for me, it is a position I have adopted ever since I became Prime Minister. I have made it very clear to my team.
“I have been talking to my team today. I have been assured that no briefing against ministers was done from No 10 but I have made it clear that I find it absolutely unacceptable.”
He added: “I have been assured it didn’t come from Downing Street but I have been equally clear that whether it is this case or any other, I intend to deal with it.”
Asked if he would sack those responsible, Sir Keir replied: “I will absolutely deal with anybody responsible for briefing against ministers, Cabinet ministers or any other ministers. I have always said that is the standard that I expect, and that is the standard that I will enforce.”
Mr McSweeney has been blamed by some within Labour for the fallout from the attacks on Mr Streeting, which were an apparent ploy to warn off potential leadership contenders.
Asked whether he still has confidence in his chief of staff, the Labour leader said: “Of course I do. I work closely with my whole team. Our focus is on working for the country.”
Earlier, Mr Streeting said “no idea, don’t care” whether the Prime Minister was investigating who was behind the briefing against him.
“That’s yesterday’s news and it’s Westminster bubble stuff that doesn’t mean anything to anyone,” the Health Secretary told the PA news agency during a visit to the Paddington Community Diagnostic Centre in Liverpool.
“I don’t think voters give two monkeys about what on earth is going on in the sort of Westminster village soap opera. What they do care about is, if they’re on an NHS waiting list, are we getting them down?”
He went on to say the NHS was “on the road to recovery” as he highlighted the fall in the waiting list for routine hospital treatment in England, the recruitment of 2,500 more GPs in his first year in the post, and faster ambulance response times.
On Wednesday, Mr Streeting denied the claims he could launch a leadership challenge, called for anyone behind the “juvenile” briefing to be sacked and said they pointed to a “toxic culture” in Sir Keir’s administration.
The Labour leader moved to smooth relations with Mr Streeting by apologising to him in a brief chat the same evening, their first since the hostilities erupted.
Cabinet colleague Ed Miliband noted that briefing is a “longstanding aspect” of politics and pointed back to there being “lots and lots of briefing” under Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
He ruled out any suggestion he was among those jostling to replace Sir Keir as Labour leader in future, telling BBC Breakfast: “I had the best inoculation technique against wanting to be leader of the Labour Party because I was leader of the Labour Party between 2010 and 2015.”
The unrest at the top of the party comes as Labour’s poll ratings have plummeted since Sir Keir delivered a landslide general election victory in July 2024.
It precedes Rachel Reeves’s Budget in a fortnight, which could see the party rip up its manifesto promise not to increase income tax and MPs fear a bloodbath in elections next May in English councils and the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments.
