Out and about Starmer could not say he had the Cabinet’s backing. They are depressed or agitating to replace him in private and sullen on broadcast…
Asked “are you confident the cabinet is fully behind you?” Starmer could only say:
“The Cabinet is working really hard on huge amount of issues on what we’re delivering at the moment. We’re preparing for the King’s Speech and all the further measures that we’re going to need to take the country forward and of course the issue we discuss at Cabinet a lot in recent weeks is the war on two fronts. The ongoing war in Ukraine and the developing situation in Iran. What we discuss at Cabinet is the international aspect of that but also the domestic impact in relation to that and the measures that we need to take to ensure that we’re assessing the risks and making sure we’re protecting people in this country from those impacts.”
At the last Cabinet all they discussed was Olly Robbins and Mandelson…
Irrelevant Lords minister Jacqui Smith was sent out for the morning round to bat for Starmer. No one else has said a peep today…
So far today no Cabinet minister has gone on record anywhere, let alone in front of a TV camera, to support the PM. Tells you something…
UPDATE: Lammy comes out for Starmer:
Keir Starmer won a massive mandate 18 months ago, for five years to deliver on Labour’s manifesto that we all stood on.
We should let nothing distract us from our mission to change Britain and we support the Prime Minister in doing that.
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) February 9, 2026
There is heightened suspicion in Labour circles regarding the loyalty of Ed Miliband to the Starmer government amid a series of internal briefings aimed at further destabilising Reeves and No10. One Cabinet minister told the Times last night:
“Why did Keir and Rachel allow the country to believe for so long that we would break our manifesto by putting up income tax by 2p when they would have known that wasn’t true? At no point were the cabinet told about the reality of the OBR forecasts. Had we been told, we might have been in a position to advise against setting hares running on income tax and giving the public the impression we are casual about our manifesto commitments. The handling of this budget has been a disaster from start to finish.”
One Cabinet minister told HuffPost “no comment” after being asked if Reeves was honest with her top political colleagues about the forecasts. Classy…
A Downing Street source tells Guido: “We are all pretty sure it’s Ed.” Co-conspirators will remember senior Labour figures fingering Miliband for inflammatory briefings in the late Summer and after a No10 attempt to remove him as Energy Secretary…
Miliband – a Lucy Powell backer – is seen within Labour special adviser circles as a key orchestrator of the ‘soft left’ in the PLP who think the time has come to put strong pressure on Starmer. Many speculate that Ed is ‘on manoeuvres’ and potentially keen to be the next Chancellor under a new PM…
Guido hears there is no massive internal worry about either the repeated battering from political journalists or any probes from the FCA. There is no current suggestion that Laurie Magnus can or will go for an investigation. Why are the political editors particularly annoyed? Because those WhatsApps they got from SpAds turned out to be deceptions…
Instead it is more political damage attached to Starmer and Reeves. Approaching haymaking time for any and all of Starmer’s political rivals…
Starmer has told his reshuffled ministers they are the “right people for this stage of our journey, the right people therefore to focus on our priorities which are economic growth and national renewal.” Until the next ‘stage’ – then it’s bye bye!
The PM let the cameras in for his first reshuffled Cabinet meeting to deliver those inspiring words before they were kicked out. He also said: “You are the right people to heed the patriotic call to lift up our country and take it forward to national renewal for millions of working people.” Have you got that warm fuzzy feeling?
Downing Street is not keen on letting Angela Rayner chair too many Cabinet meetings. Insecure?
Rayner chaired her first Cabinet meeting last Tuesday while Starmer was at the G7. This was the first time – usually they just cancel them when the PM is away…
If you trust the readout everything went normally. E.g: “The Deputy Prime Minister opened today’s Cabinet by saying her thoughts were with all those who lost loved ones following the devastating Air India plane crash last week. She reflected on attending a memorial service at the Indian High Commission yesterday, and said it was a very moving occasion.” Professional…
Guido hears Downing Street has just cancelled the next few Cabinets for which the PM is absent. Back to the old system. Wouldn’t want people getting any ideas…
Survation has done a poll for LabourList surveying 1,053 Labour members and it’s grim reading for Number 10. A whopping 68% of members say Labour is on the wrong track (up from 49% two weeks ago). Only 24% say it’s heading in the right direction. The Spring Statement only made Labour more unpopular, then…
Since the Statement, all Cabinet members saw net popularity declines by an average of -13%. Reeves’ net favourability has fallen by 30 points to -41% while Starmer slipped by 26 points to -13%, though Rayner and Miliband are still well ahead of the rest of the Cabinet. Meanwhile 80% say the welfare reforms will hurt Labour electorally and 53% of members expect Reform to win the Runcorn by-election. Things can only get worse…
Former leader of the SNP in Westminster Ian Blackford told Times Radio why he believes Nicola Sturgeon’s claim that she spent no time in the kitchen and therefore didn’t see any of her husband’s purchases:
“She doesn’t have a passion for cooking.”
