Ed Miliband Urges the Labour Party to Move On After Starmer Offers Apology to Streeting for Negative Briefings

Senior Labour Party official Ed Miliband has demanded the party to move beyond party tensions after PM Sir Keir Starmer personally apologised to Health Secretary Wes Streeting MP over hostile media stories linked to Downing Street.

Important Developments

• Ed Miliband confirms the Prime Minister will fire the Downing Street official behind for targeting Wes Streeting if discovered
• Miliband dismisses any party leader ambitions, declaring his previous experience as Labour leader was the "most effective inoculation" against wanting the role again
• UK economy grew by just 0.1 percent in the July-September period, affected by the Jaguar Land Rover security breach

Background

The internal unrest started after allegations surfaced about hostile background comments from the Prime Minister's allies targeting the Health Secretary. Despite initial attempts to downplay the situation, the conversation between Starmer and the health minister apparently took a different direction.

The Prime Minister apologised to Streeting, the media have been informed. The conversation was short, and they did not discuss the chief of staff, whom Starmer is now under pressure to sack.

Miliband's Reaction

In his morning broadcast interviews, Ed Miliband highlighted the need for the Labour Party to concentrate on country-wide matters rather than internal disputes.

Look, I think the media briefing has been bad, no question.

But my call to the party now is quite simple, which is we need to concentrate on the nation, not each other.

We were given a historic victory last summer, a important chance to transform our country. And we have a historic duty.

Growth News

Separately, government figures showed the British economic performance increased by just 0.1% in the third quarter, with the industrial sector especially affected by the recently reported JLR cyber-attack.

Today's Agenda

• Morning: The National Health Service publishes its monthly data
• Today: Wes Streeting visits the Liverpool area
• Today: Rachel Reeves speaks to the journalists
• Late morning: Number 10 conducts its regular media briefing
• Morning: The Prime Minister promotes plans for the UK's pioneering nuclear power plant at Wylfa on the island of Anglesey