17 minutes agoShareSaveKate Whannel,Political reporter and Brian Wheeler,Political reporterShareSaveSir Keir Starmer has insisted he has “never authorised” attacks on his cabinet ministers, calling briefings against them “unacceptable”.The PM was speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions after some of his allies told numerous media outlets he could face a leadership challenge from another cabinet minister such as Health Secretary Wes Streeting.There has been speculation about the extent to which Sir Keir was aware of the anonymous briefings, which had been aimed at shoring up his position, or had encouraged them in some way.Streeting has denied he was lining up a leadership bid, and called on those behind the briefings to be sacked.Asked at an NHS conference in Manchester if he would fight alongside Sir Keir if there were any plots to oust him as PM, Streeting said: “Yes.””The bizarre thing about some juvenile briefing overnight is it’s people in No 10 who’ve said the PM is fighting for his job.”I don’t think that’s a helpful or constructive thing to say, I also don’t think it’s true,” he added.Streeting earlier attacked the “toxic culture” in Number 10, a comment seized on by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who said the PM had “lost control of his government… and lost the trust of the British people”.Badenoch said Morgan McSweeney, the Downing Street chief of staff, was responsible for the culture in No 10 and asked if the prime minister still had confidence in him. Sir Keir replied: “Morgan McSweeney, my team and I are absolutely focused on delivering for the country. “Let me be clear, of course, I’ve never authorised attacks on cabinet members, I appointed them to their post because they’re the best people to carry out their jobs.”Sir Keir told MPs “any attack on any member of my cabinet is completely unacceptable”.He said Streeting – who missed PMQs to deliver a speech at the NHS conference – was doing a “great job” cutting waiting lists and boosting the number of doctors.Speaking after PMQs, the prime minister’s press secretary told reporters the briefings against Streeting had come “from outside No 10” and that the prime minister had full confidence in McSweeney.The spokesperson refused to say whether there was a leak inquiry, but did say leaks would be “dealt with”.Briefings of this nature are often part of reporting on politics in Westminster, when people speak to journalists “off the record”.This means they say things that they are not prepared to say on camera, which the BBC reports in order to give the full story.On Tuesday evening, supporters of the prime minist …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nn17 minutes agoShareSaveKate Whannel,Political reporter and Brian Wheeler,Political reporterShareSaveSir Keir Starmer has insisted he has “never authorised” attacks on his cabinet ministers, calling briefings against them “unacceptable”.The PM was speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions after some of his allies told numerous media outlets he could face a leadership challenge from another cabinet minister such as Health Secretary Wes Streeting.There has been speculation about the extent to which Sir Keir was aware of the anonymous briefings, which had been aimed at shoring up his position, or had encouraged them in some way.Streeting has denied he was lining up a leadership bid, and called on those behind the briefings to be sacked.Asked at an NHS conference in Manchester if he would fight alongside Sir Keir if there were any plots to oust him as PM, Streeting said: “Yes.””The bizarre thing about some juvenile briefing overnight is it’s people in No 10 who’ve said the PM is fighting for his job.”I don’t think that’s a helpful or constructive thing to say, I also don’t think it’s true,” he added.Streeting earlier attacked the “toxic culture” in Number 10, a comment seized on by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who said the PM had “lost control of his government… and lost the trust of the British people”.Badenoch said Morgan McSweeney, the Downing Street chief of staff, was responsible for the culture in No 10 and asked if the prime minister still had confidence in him. Sir Keir replied: “Morgan McSweeney, my team and I are absolutely focused on delivering for the country. “Let me be clear, of course, I’ve never authorised attacks on cabinet members, I appointed them to their post because they’re the best people to carry out their jobs.”Sir Keir told MPs “any attack on any member of my cabinet is completely unacceptable”.He said Streeting – who missed PMQs to deliver a speech at the NHS conference – was doing a “great job” cutting waiting lists and boosting the number of doctors.Speaking after PMQs, the prime minister’s press secretary told reporters the briefings against Streeting had come “from outside No 10” and that the prime minister had full confidence in McSweeney.The spokesperson refused to say whether there was a leak inquiry, but did say leaks would be “dealt with”.Briefings of this nature are often part of reporting on politics in Westminster, when people speak to journalists “off the record”.This means they say things that they are not prepared to say on camera, which the BBC reports in order to give the full story.On Tuesday evening, supporters of the prime minist …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
