Keir Starmer is struggling to keep a lid on Labour’s seething civil war today as revolts loom on jury trials and the Hillsborough Law.
The PM’s allies and Wes Streeting have been engaged in more bitter clashes after briefings about the Health Secretary’s alleged leadership jockeying.
Mr Streeting’s camp has complained that the latest briefings against him – suggesting Sir Keir should sack him for disloyalty – were ‘incredibly stupid’.
Fingers are being pointed at No10 minister Darren Jones, although he has apparently denied any involvement.
Meanwhile, the government is bracing for more trouble in a crunch vote on the Hillsborough Law tomorrow. The Bill would impose a duty of candour on state officials, to prevent cover-ups.
Amendments proposed by the Government last week brought spies within the scope of the legislation, but campaigners – and many Labour MPs – have warned that making the duty subject to the approval of the head of their service leaves a loophole.
Backbenchers have tabled rival changes that could attract significant support in the Commons.
A mutiny on proposals to curb the right to jury trials is also gathering pace, as Sir Keir fights to maintain discipline on multiple fronts.
There are claims that two ministers are ready to quit unless Justice Secretary David Lammy thinks again on the controversial plans.
The dramatic defection of Robert Jenrick from the Tories to Reform on Thursday sparked a fresh wave of red-on-red attacks on Mr Streeting.
Insiders suggested that Sir Keir should emulate Kemi Badenoch’s strong response to disloyalty, which saw her kick Mr Jenrick out of the party for plotting to switch parties.
Having apparently been caught out ‘mid-plot’, the former shadow justice secretary was silent for hours before finally being unveiled as a new Reform MP at a press conference alongside Nigel Farage.
A spokesman for Mr Streeting said: ‘It’s a real shame that Keir’s so-called allies are briefing against Wes yet again, when they should be talking about the second biggest fall in waiting lists in 15 years, and ambulances arriving 15 minutes faster with Labour.
‘Given Reform and the Tories are at each other’s throats right now, this briefing is also incredibly stupid.
‘Wes is delivering real change in the NHS, and is out there making the case for Keir and for Labour.’
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg on the Hillsborough row: ‘I just want to be really clear, the security services won’t be exempt.
‘But there is a there is a challenge that we’ve got collectively, and the challenge is to make sure that this applies to the security services without fear or favour, that they can continue to do their jobs.
‘They’re often the recipients of confidential information, but that we never ever end up in a situation like we did with the Manchester arena inquiry – and I have constituents who are affected by that as well – where the security services are able to withhold information and present an inaccurate picture to families and to a public inquiry for a very long time.’
She rejected a suggestion that the government could withdraw the plans amid the threat of backbench opposition to it and said the Government is talking to families and campaigners.
‘I’m confident that we’re going to resolve it. How it plays out tomorrow at the moment, is dependent on those conversations that we have, but those conversations are going on right now. We’re listening as we’ve always listened and we will find a way to get this right.’
Ms Nandy admitted the infighting at the top of Labour ‘frustrates the hell out of me’.
She told Times Radio: ‘I’d just say to anybody who’s briefing in any direction about anything at the moment, stop it. We’ve got a job to do.’
On whether Mr Streeting had been wrong to complain about the government’s inability to get policies ‘right first time’, Ms Nandy said: ‘He’s not ambitious to go further in terms of briefing, he’s ambitious to go further in terms of his actual job tackling the problems that people have.
‘We all need to be free to be able to do that and we need to be free of the noise, free of the distraction and able to continue to do that.’
She told GB News: ‘I’m frustrated by the noise. I’m frustrated by the people who go and talk about these things and brief against each other, or leak.
‘I’m frustrated by those people, and I just wish they’d stop it.’
