UK politics live: Starmer under duel fire from Labour big beasts over budget delay and Sue Gray row
Sir Keir Starmer has been criticised by former Tony Blair’s aides for losing his top chief of staff
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Sir Keir Starmer has come under fire from Labour major political figures over the loss of his senior civil servant, recent scandals and internal rifts over the winter fuel payment.
With the clock ticking toward his first 100 days, former Tony Blair aide, Alastair Campbell, warned the prime against taking “too many missteps”.
Mr Campbell warned “a sense of a vacuum can develop” and be filled with rows and that Rachel Reeves made a mistake by failing to announce the Budget after wining the election.
Another Blairite, John McTernan, said that the Labour government had “completely lost grip” and it was “delivering drift” rather than change after losing Ms Gray as No 10 chief of staff.
But defence secretary John Healey hailed Sir Keir’s administration as “the most unified Cabinet that I’ve ever served in’’ despite the Sue Gray row.
The minister rejected claims the Labour is “in crisis” insisting that Downing Street after admitting that the heart of the new government had become a “lightning conductor for criticism”.
The ex-party gate investigator quit after fearing she was “becoming a distraction” as pressure grows on the prime minister ahead of his first budget.
Sir Keir Starmer shuffles Number 10 team after Sue Gray quits as chief of staff
Who is Sue Gray? ‘Partygate’ civil servant takes up new Labour government role
Who is Morgan McSweeney? The Labour election guru replacing Sue Gray as chief of staff
Why Starmer’s reshuffle of his inner circle will help put No 10 back on track
Poll: 60% of Britons think Labour government is ‘sleazy’
With Sir Keir Starmer’s administration approaching 100 days in power, voters have given their verdict.
According to a new YouGov poll, more than half of Brits think the new Labour government has been “sleazy”.
Just under three months of taking office, the prime minister’s cabinet was described negatively by six in ten of those polled.
The survey had been conducted amidst Labour’s row over freebies which forced the PM to return over £6,000 in hospitality.
But the Tories have received the same feedback, with 77 per cent of Brits giving the same negative description to the previous administration.
The poll also found 30 per cent of Labour voters would use the same word to describe their party, while 38 per cent think it has behaved worse than expected.
David Lammy defends Sue Gray and Labour government’s record
The foreign secretary has joined defence secretary John Healey in praising Sue Gray as a “superb public servant” as he defended the government’s record during its first three months in office.
His comments come after a raft of accusations towards the former chief of staff from aides, who claim Ms Gray allegedly delayed policy decisions and was a “divisive figure” in No 10.
Despite the backlash, foreign secretary insisted: “I congratulate [Sue Gray] as she heads into this new role, working with Labour, connecting us the government, with the regions particularly across our country.
“This is a government pledged to serve. There is much to do. It’s a young government, and we get on with the work ahead of us.”
Highlighting the work of Sir Keir Starmer’s administration so far, he added: “I’m very pleased that over these 100 days, we’ve been able to speed up our support to Ukraine. I’m very pleased that we’ve been able to move forward with the establishment of GB Energy, that my colleague Wes Streeting has been able to settle the dispute with junior doctors and get on with the business of turning around our National Health Service.”
Pictured: Angela Rayner arrives at No 10
Robert Jenrick calls for Cabinet Office ethics investigation into Sue Gray
We now have some reaction from the Conservatives, who have not fallen short in criticising Labour over the party’s former chief of staff.
Tory leadership contender Robert Jenrick has demanded Sue Gray to be banned from taking up a new role until an investigation can be carried out by the Cabinet Office ethics team.
He was responding to recent reports of aides accusing Ms Gray of alienating some of her political colleagues, who slammed her for “control freakery”, and accused her of creating a bottleneck that delayed policy decisions.
Following her resignation as Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff on Saturday, she accepted a new role as envoy to the regions and nations.
But Mr Jenrick called the former partygate investigator to be blocked from the job “until the Propriety and Ethics team at the Cabinet Office, a unit she once ran, have carried out a full investigation”.
The former minister added: “Sue Gray’s tenure in Downing Street was one of the unhappiest in the long history of that building. It’s clear that she has left dozens of junior staff hurt and upset.
“But there were serious allegations made that warrant full investigation.”
He added: “It’s the least transparency we should expect from this government which has moved from one crisis to another in its first few months.”
Minister denies Labour made mistake with Budget timing
John Healey rejected a suggestion by Blair-era spin doctor Alastair Campbell that the government has made a mistake in its timing of the Budget, allowing other stories to fill the vacuum.
It was put to the Defence Secretary that Mr Campbell has suggested it was a serious mistake to allow narratives to develop without enough sense of how the government will deliver change.
“We saw with Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng what happens when you try and rush a Budget,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“So this needs to be done properly.”
Campbell says delaying Budget was ‘miscalculation'
Continuing with his criticism of the new Labour government, Alastair Campbell has claimed Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves made a mistake by failing to announce their Budget after wining election.
The Budget is set to be delivered on 30 October, but the Labour spin doctor said the delay had created confusion among voters.
He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “It seems to me that the most important thing is to understand that in the modern age when it comes to strategy and strategic communications you have to develop, execute and narrate the strategy all at once.
“I think the point about the Budget is really important. When Margaret Thatcher won in 1979 Geoffrey Howe delivered the Budget five weeks after the election. Gordon Brown in 1997, he delivered the Budget eight weeks after the election.
“David Cameron and George Osborne in 2010, six weeks. We are having to wait almost 16 weeks since the election and I think that is what creates this sense of people not being quite sure what the government is about.”
Blair-era aide warns Starmer: ‘You can’t afford too many missteps’
Alistair Campbell has warned Sir Keir Starmer against taking “too many missteps” as his first 100 days in government come to a close.
The former Tony Blair’s director of communications suggested voters could lose patience with the new administration following weeks of damaging headlines over tensions within Downing Street.
Before the ousting of Sue Gray, the prime minister was forced to respond to the ‘freebies-gate’ row and deal internal clashes over the controversial winter fuel payment cuts.
Citing the recent rows, Mr Campbell told the BBC: “You can’t afford too many missteps. You can’t afford too many things which allow the public and allow the media - we still have a very bias right wing press in this country - to say they are all the same as each other.
“Labour are very different to the Tories in many, many ways, in policy, in values and I think actually we now have the most working class cabinet that we have ever had frankly.
“But if you are not constantly developing, executing and narrating a very clear strategy then a sense of a vacuum can develop and then that will be filled with stuff like this.”
What’s happening in Westminster today?
We will be covering the House of Commons and House of Lords throughout the day. Here’s what’s on the agenda today:
House of Commons:
- Work and pensions questions 2.30pm
- Urgent questions/statements (if any) 3.30pm
- A general debate on Lord Darzi’s independent investigation into NHS performance
- An adjournment debate on the first anniversary of the 7 October attacks by Hamas
House of Lords:
- Oral questions 2.30pm
- Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill – second reading 3.20pm
Harriet Harman says missteps to be expected by new Labour government after Sue Gray turmoil
Baroness Harriet Harman has said the turmoil that culminated in the resignation of Sue Gray has been “uncomfortable” for Sir Keir Starmer, but missteps should be expected by a new government in its early weeks.
The prime minister was forced to accept the resignation of his chief of staff after weeks of reported tensions in Number 10.
Since Labour won the election in July there have been a series of briefings against Ms Gray, including the leaking of information about her salary to the BBC last month.
Our political correspondent Millie Cooke has the full story below:
Harman says missteps to be expected by new government after Sue Gray turmoil
Labour grandee says rows that led to resignation of PM’s top aide ‘uncomfortable’
Andy Street backs Tom Tugendhat
While Labour grapples with the resignation of Sue Gray, the Tories continue to run in the leadership race.
We’ve just learnt that Andy Street, the Tory former mayor of the West Midlands, has endorsed Tom Tugendhat.
Posting on X, he hailed the candidate as a “modest, inclusive brand of Conservatism”.
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