Britain’s favourite polling guru has predicted that the “crunch point” will come in Summer when MPs move against Starmer. Curtains closing…
Times journalist Gabrielle Sivia Weiniger tweeted the below image purporting to show Israeli president Isaac Herzog hobnobbing with convicted paeodophile Jeffrey Epstein:
The post remained online for a few hours before Weiniger realised the blindingly obvious, which is the photo is AI-generated. She has since deleted it and apologised for her “grave error in judgement for reposting the photo, and to the president for any harm this has caused“. A bad week for the Times, especially after that Mandelson cover…
Latest Home Office figures confirm that more small boat migrants have crossed the Channel under Starmer than any other Prime Minister. Since Labour came to power, 65,922 migrants have landed in the UK…
That beats the previous record of 65,811 under Boris Johnson. On average, 790 migrants have crossed the Channel every week since Starmer took office. Meanwhile, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood can’t guarantee the numbers will fall next year. Labour ministers might not be able to say how many gangs they’ve ‘smashed’, though at least they can say which records they’ve set…
Unite the Union has expedited its plan to disaffiliate with Labour, having launched a consultation with its members on the proposal this week. According to Sky News’s Sam Coates, the union is now moving forward plans to divorce the party at their annual conference in September. Speeding things up by an entire year…
The row supposedly “isn’t really about Keir Starmer“, though there’s no love lost between Unite boss Sharon Graham and Keir Starmer (or even Angela Rayner). Instead, it is a broader dissatisfaction with the entire Labour project and its failure to “deliver” for workers. The Fire Brigades Union has already called time on Starmer’s leadership. Now Unite is looking to pull the plug as well. How much did Unite donate to Labour last year? Around £1.6 million…
Such is the furious pitch of the war between the Streeting camp and the No10 team that staff in Downing Street were last night discussing whether to sack the Health Secretary. Circular firing squad…
Streeting has been accused by No10 of co-ordinating with Anas Sarwar over the weekend to come out against Starmer. His team denies this. The Health Secretary has also released some of his (erudite and Starmer-critical) WhatsApp messages with Peter Mandelson in order to stave off claims from rival leadership teams that he was too close to the disgraced ex-ambassador. A communications flurry – ironically sharing ministerial texts with Mandelson has now been banned by Cabinet Office civil servants after Wes’ stunt…
Guido hears discussions were not raised with the PM’s level, though serious proposals were considered to remove Streeting from post, in order to make an example of him to assert Starmer’s authority after the Sarwar intervention was shot down. A No10 source says acting joint Chief of Staff Vidhya Alakeson led the overexcited planning effort against Streeting…
A Downing Street source tells Guido the situation has calmed overnight, though some expect Political Cabinet today to produce fireworks. No10 staff are furious at Streeting who is perceived as far more actively jostling for the leadership than any other would-be contender. Ed Miliband made calls this morning to “moveon.org” from the briefing and focus on entirely changing Starmer’s policy agenda. The PM’s trolley rattles on with about one wheel left…
Ed Miliband has warned that “this has got to be a moment of change” for the Labour government and that the Cabinet + MPs were “on the precipice” yesterday as the party wobbled on Starmer. He said they “looked at the alternatives.” Every now ‘loyal’ Cabinet minister is looking forward to pulling the weak PM in their policy direction…
Miliband said claims he wanted to stand himself were “baloney” and ruled out a future leadership challenge (“Yes, yes. I’m not going to run, yeah.“) repeating that his previous time leading the party had “innocculated” him. Miliband refused to comment on the briefing war between Streeting and No10, telling them to “move on”…
No10 sources have long suspected Miliband of plotting a kingmaker role and/or the Chancellorship for himself anyway. The Energy Secretary said the point of this government was to shift from the rule of the “rich and powerful” and that it had not yet done so enough, adding that policy mistakes like Winter Fuel were damaging. The soft left is driving the bus now…
The latest No10 shake-up continues with the imminent departure of Cabinet Secretary Chris Wormald, has long been viewed as a blocker. Starmer still grappling for survival after failing for so long to fix the machinery of government…
Paula Barker, Liverpool Wavertree MP backing Andy Burnham, told Times Radio there wouldn’t be trouble from the markets under Burnham:
“The markets will have to fall in line.”
