As February comes to an end No10 is shoring up plans for a reshuffle to keep Starmer in power for as long as possible. Guido reported extensively on these intentions back at the beginning of the month…
It is still early doors because Gorton & Denton and the May elections have not yet taken place. The extent of the hit Starmer takes from those will decide the outcome of whatever reshuffle efforts – or indeed lead to a Labour regicide…
After internally discussing whether to sack Wes Streeting as a one-off three weeks ago Downing Street sources say reshuffle plans include a removal of the ambitious leadership contender, a “disloyal and disruptive” minister who has to be “tackled” – a senior Labour source adds: “We need someone at Health who isn’t thinking about personal ambition.”
There is no current plan for ministerial moves prior to May or just after Gorton & Denton. If Starmer is strong enough No10 staff plan to move left in terms of appointments but avoid giving the soft left a go at the Treasury. That means retaining Reeves or replacing her with compromise candidate to satisfy left-wing bloodlust. Markets, markets, markets…
A Downing Street source said the shape of a reshuffle “depends on how febrile it is after May.” A Labour wipeout would leave Starmer with little leverage…
Much also depends on new Cabinet Secretary Antonia Romeo, who survived a blob-led campaign against her appointment. Downing Street now regards her as safe. As Guido has tracked across many months it is the Cabinet Office which is failing on numerous cylinders. The clock is ticking to fix that one…
Statement by Paul Dacre, Editor-in-Chief of Associated Newspapers Limited, following Harry’s loss in court today:
“Prince Harry wrote a sad book which boasted about his killing of 25 Taliban, his drug-taking and, in cringe-making detail, how he lost his virginity. There isn’t a laundry in the cosmos big enough to wash all the dirty linen he has aired about his own family. For him, to complain about HIS privacy being invaded takes, not just the biscuit, but the whole tin. Poor Harry. I feel sorry for the way a confused and angry young man has been drawn into this case. The bitter irony is that his mother, Diana, liked the Mail. We were her paper. We took her side in her acrimonious break up with Charles. She and I would speak and meet. The Mail’s superb royal reporter was her friend and confidante. The truth is that this trumped-up action – which has cost well over £50 million and wasted a huge amount of valuable court time – should never have been brought to trial. That it did, raises profoundly disturbing questions about the conduct of elements of the legal profession. Today’s verdict is not just a victory for Associated’s magnificent journalists – several of whom have had a terrible toll imposed on their health and lives – but a free press generally. Make no mistake. This was a conspiracy, supported by Hacked Off, to destroy a paper. Financed by the orgy-loving, racist Max Mosley and involving the actor Hugh Grant, it was also a sinister bid to resuscitate Leveson Two and impose statutory regulation on the press which, even now, is rearing its ugly head in Labour’s Media Green Paper.”