Sue Gray Is Not Coming Back To Work For Starmer As Ex-Chief Of Staff ‘Rejects New Role’

Posted on 12/11/2024 by Boris Clair

Keir Starmer’s former chief of staff Sue Gray is not coming back to work with the PM, HuffPost UK understands.

No.10 announced on October 6 that she was being made the prime minister’s envoy for nations and regions as part of a major Downing Street shake-up.

At the time, Starmer said he was “delighted” that she had accepted the newly-created role.

But it has now been confirmed that she will not be starting the job after all.

The prime minister’s spokesperson told reporters on Tuesday: “I can confirm she has now decided to not take up the role.

“Subsequent to that, we confirmed she was taking a break and I can now update she has decided not to take up the role following her break.”

They said she had already “played a vital role strengthening relations with nations and regions”, for which she had the PM’s thanks.

They did not say if she had been paid during her break between jobs.

No.10 said the envoy role will now be kept “under review”, adding: “Beyond that, respectfully, we won’t comment further on individual staffing matters.”

The comments come hours after a source close to the former chief of staff told the Financial Times: “Sue has taken a decision not to take the role. She’s going to focus on other things.

“She’s taken time to think about it properly, talking to stakeholders, but ultimately she’s decided she doesn’t want to do it.”

However, a cabinet minister told HuffPost UK that it had been No.10′s decision for her not to do the job.

Gray, who attracted national attention after leading the civil service’s partygate probe during Boris Johnson’s premiership, was appointed Starmer’s chief of staff when Labour was still in opposition.

She continued in the role after the election, but clashed with Morgan McSweeney, Starmer’s director of strategy.

After weeks of No.10 turmoil, Gray was sacked and replaced by McSweeney.

She immediately went on what the PM’s official spokesman described as a “short” break and never returned to take up her new job.

In a statement in October, Gray said she was “pleased to accept the new envoy role.”

The PM also issued a statement saying he was “delighted she would continue to support our work”.

But the job change was seen by many as a demotion, especially as it was not clear exactly what the new role would entail – or if it would even be paid.

After weeks of silence from Gray, No.10 confirmed to HuffPost UK that she would not be coming back to work for the PM.

A Downing Street source then told the BBC: “We think she has made the right decision.”

Gray went on a “short break” after quitting as Starmer’s chief of staff, where she had been paid more than the prime minister with an annual salary of £170,000.

She did not attend a regional investment summit in mid-October, as she was taking “a bit of downtime” following an intense period in the spotlight, according to cabinet office minister Pat McFadden.

The Guardian reported on Tuesday that Starmer was planning to withdraw the job offer to Gray allegedly due to concerns about the media attention which could stop her from working effectively.

A government source told the newspaper: “Sue hasn’t been told for sure that the job is no longer on offer, but she has been warned that this is the direction of travel. The way some people are behaving towards her is really horrible.”

What Labour Must Learn From Trump’s Victory To Avoid The Democrats’ Fate

Posted on 08/11/2024 by Boris Clair

Donald Trump’s stunning US election victory has thrown up serious questions for Keir Starmer – and not just because of the disobliging comments he and other senior Labour figures made in the past about the president-elect.

The splintering of the Democrats’ traditional coalition of voters has sent a shiver down the spine of Labour strategists, who are already nervously eyeing the next UK general election in four years’ time.

Minority groups and the white working class, angered by what they saw as a collapse in their living standards under the Biden administration, flocked to Trump’s promise to “Make America Great Again”.

Throw in the fact that incumbent parties are being turfed out by disgruntled electorates across the western world – a trend Starmer benefited from on July 4 – and you can see why Labour bosses are anxious.

HuffPost UK spoke to a range of Labour insiders and polling experts to find out what lessons the party needs to learn from what happened across the Atlantic in order to avoid the same fate that befell their sister party.

First of all, it is important to stress that Trump’s victory was no fluke. He became the first Republican candidate in 20 years to win both the popular vote and the electoral college as a swathe of previously blue states turned red.

Despite receiving the endorsement of countless celebrities, Kamala Harris’ hopes of becoming her country’s first female president were scuppered by millions of ordinary voters who no longer believed the Democrats understood their concerns.

A senior Labour source told HuffPost UK: “The lessons for our party are obvious and unavoidable. It really is the economy, stupid.

“If people don’t feel better off, then incumbents don’t win elections. Democrats preached growth and a strong economy with stagnating wages and price inflation.

“The follow-through from that is the realignment, or more accurately the dealignment, of sectional interests. That is something that Labour needs to address. The Democrats’ coalition of Latinos, African-Americans and the white working class evaporated like snow off a ditch.”

One insider pointed out that the party had already experienced something similar in 2019, when traditional Labour seats in the Midlands and north of England – the fabled Red Wall – switched en masse to Boris Johnson’s Tories.

But he added: “There’s still an assumption by the left that black and Asian communities in Britain somehow are instinctively left-inclined and don’t want tough action on things like immigration.

“In the US, they voted in the same way as the wider population and that myth was well and truly shattered.”

In its analysis of Labour’s landslide election victory in July, the Labour Together think-tank warned that the party “has been cautiously hired, on a trial basis, liable to prompt dismissal if it deviates even slightly from its focus on voters’ priorities”.

The group’s chief executive, former Labour frontbencher Jon Ashworth, said the party forgets that message at its peril.

He told HuffPost UK: “If working people see their pay checks squeezed, they need to be convinced that you’ve got a plan to make them better off. What was pretty clear in America was that a lot of families felt worse off and blamed the Democrats.

“The challenge for Labour, as our report found, was that they need to remain completely focused of the cost of living, strengthening the economy and building a stronger NHS.

“Labour’s support at the election, while obviously broad, is potentially shallow. People certainly wanted change, but voters are very unforgiving if you don’t focus on those priorities.”

That was echoed by Emma Levin, associate director at pollsters Savanta.

She said: “One of the key lessons from the US appears to be one that Starmer’s Labour already know well; voters kick out incumbent governments if they don’t feel better off.

“Governments across the developed world are getting booted out of office, and in no small part because their citizens feel poorer. I think that’s as true in the US as it was here.”

Keir Starmer has a lot of work to do to convince voters that Labour gets their concerns.

A senior No.10 source said that by the time of the next election, Labour needs to show voters that it has delivered on four things – ending the cost of living crisis, improving the NHS, bringing down immigration and improving the UK’s infrastructure by building more homes and upgrading crumbling hospitals and schools.

“We have to get to the end of five years with a very clear sense of who we’re on the side of and what we’re trying to do,” he said.

“The Democrats started off with a message aimed at middle America but along the way they got too squeamish about immigration, and they only got to that late on. They sounded far too much like the party of east coast liberals and academia.

“For all the theorising people will do, what it does boil down to is that in big swathes of America and across the western world, people have been hit incredibly hard by the cost of living and think that their governments haven’t responded to it properly

“You not only need to deliver but you need to have a strong story about how you’re delivering and how you’re making life better for people.

“If you’re a government in the western world at the moment, your focus needs to be on what people really care about. It sounds obvious but it doesn’t always happen.”

To that end, former political journalist James Lyons has now started his role as Downing Street’s director of strategic communications.

His job will be to look to the long term and come up with ways for the government to convince voters that it is on their side.

According to Conleth Burns, associate director at the More in Common think-tank, the Democrats “took a lot of their voters for granted”, so it was hardly surprising that they turned to Donald Trump.

Another challenge for Labour is the fact that disaffected voters in the UK are not just turning to Reform UK, but also to the Greens and Gaza independents.

“You’ve got this insurgency both on the left and the right and being able to navigate that is key,” he said.

The most important thing, Burns said, is for Labour to make good on the promises they made in the election – most notably bringing down people’s gas and electricity bills.

He said: “If Labour can’t deliver that, they are likely to be turfed out.”

Trump’s remarkable comeback as president will have huge political and economic repercussions for the next four years and beyond.

Keir Starmer must learn the lessons of how he did it if Labour is not to go the same way as the Democrats when voters in the UK next go to the polls.

5 Reasons Why Donald Trump’s Victory Is A Massive Headache For Keir Starmer

Posted on 06/11/2024 by Boris Clair

Keir Starmer wasted no time in congratulating Donald Trump on his “historic” victory in the US presidential election.

The former and soon-to-be-again president had not even reached the magic number of 270 electoral college votes before the Downing Street statement arrived.

“As the closest of allies, we stand shoulder to shoulder in defence of our shared values of freedom, democracy and enterprise,” the prime minister declared.

Nevertheless, Starmer and his aides will be well aware of the political jeopardy posed by another Trump presidency.

Here, HuffPost UK looks at the potential problems for the UK government emanating the maverick Republican’s return to the White House.

Economy

For a government which has made growing the economy its number one mission, Trump’s re-election could have serious repercussions.

Goldman Sachs immediately downgraded their forecast for UK economic growth for 2025 from 1.6% to 1.4% on the back of the US result, pointing to Trump’s vow to impose tariffs on goods entering America from abroad.

Such a move would also be extremely damaging for high-value British exports like Scotch whisky.

A spokesperson for the Scotch Whisky Association said: “As prime minister Keir Starmer has said, the UK and US stand shoulder to shoulder and are partners in enterprise.

“To deepen this partnership, the US and UK administrations should agree to maintain the zero-tariff trade of whiskies across the Atlantic.”

While the Biden administration has ruled out as US-UK comprehensive trade agreement, Trump has spoken in the past of his desire to get one done – although he conspicuously failed to do so the last time he was in office.

The price Trump would try to extract in return for a deal – such as allowing hormone-pumped American beef onto British supermarket shelves – may turn out being too high for Starmer to pay.

The PM’s official spokesman would only say: “We already enjoy a thriving economic relationship with the US. There are millions of jobs supported by this relationship, which is worth $1 trillion, and clearly we will be seeking to build on that.”

That may well prove to be easier said than done.

Defence

Trump has made no secret in the past of his desire for America’s Nato allies to spend more money on defence.

On this, at least, it appears that the new US administration could well make common cause with Starmer’s government.

The PM’s spokesman said: “The prime minister agrees that other Nato member states must pull their weight when it comes to defence spending.”

Labour said during the election campaign that they would return defence spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) when the financial circumstances allow.

But defence analyst Francis Tusa warned that may not be enough to satisfy Trump, who could call on Nato members to spend 3% of GDP on defence.

Writing on X, he said: “Equivocation/hesitation won’t be an option. If the UK is to retain any influence in Europe and Nato, holding back over defence is an epic fail – no-one will accept the UK holding back.

“This is likely a complete nightmare for Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves. They have their plans that they wish to pursue, but they face the likelihood that these plans will have to take 2nd/3rd place to defence/foreign relations, and that means that the budget follows.”

Ukraine

Unlike the UK, Trump’s commitment to Ukraine in its war with Russia is less than certain.

He has spoken in the past of being able to end the conflict on day one of his presidency, but that would entail Kyiv having to give up on territory seized by Russia.

Asked whether America’s future stance on Ukraine would affect the UK’s, the PM’s spokesman said: “We have been clear that the UK’s support for UK is, and always will remain, iron-clad.”

However, any weakening of America’s support for Ukraine would have severe implications for its ability to continue defending itself – and pose serious questions as to whether the UK and Kyiv’s other allies remain willing and able to provide it with the military and financial support it needs.

Climate

Trump has made no secret of his disdain for climate change, describing it as a “hoax” and “one of the great scams of all time”.

During his first term in office, he withdrew the US from the Paris climate agreement, while he has also vowed to “drill baby drill” for more oil.

It’s fair to say, therefore, that his views on our warming planet are pretty far apart from those of Starmer and Ed Miliband, the energy and net zero secretary.

Downing Street today tried to put a brave face on things, pointing out that Starmer will travel to the Cop 29 summit in Baku next week to make clear that the UK is ready to assume “global leadership” on tackling climate change.

But without the support of America over the next four years, that fight will become even harder to win.

The Trumps Don’t Like Labour

Despite both Starmer and foreign secretary David Lammy’s attempts to curry favour with the president-elect – the pair held a two-hour dinner with Trump in New York in September – there remains a lot of bad blood.

During the campaign, Donald Trump Jr succinctly explained his family’s views on the UK government when he told ITV: “It’s absolute lunacy what I see going on in the UK right now.

“They’re jailing people for misgendering someone. Honestly it’s disgusting and they should be ashamed of themselves.”

The Trump campaign also accused Labour of “interference” in the election because party activists crossed the Atlantic to campaign for Kamala Harris.

In his statement welcoming Trump’s victory, Starmer said the “UK-US special relationship will continue to prosper on both sides of the Atlantic for years to come”.

But the next four could well turn out to be very rocky indeed.

Elon Musk Has Reignited His Feud With Keir Starmer And This Time It’s Over The Budget

Posted on 02/11/2024 by Boris Clair

Elon Musk has reignited his feud with Keir Starmer by becoming an unlikely champion of Britain’s farmers.

The X owner has taken issue with changes to inheritance tax rules set out in the Budget last Wednesday by Rachel Reeves.

Under the new measures, farms worth more than £1 million will become liable for the tax for the first time when their owner dies.

Responding to a post on X criticising the new policy, Musk wrote: “We should leave the farmers alone. We farmers immense gratitude for making the food on our tables!”

In the summer, the prime minister slapped down the billionaire tech boss for claiming “civil war is inevitable” in the UK in the wake of the far-right riots which have taken place across the country in the past week.

The PM’s official spokesman said: “There’s no justification for comments like that and what we’ve seen in this country is organised illegal thuggery which has no place on our streets or online.”

But responding to a video posted on X by Starmer in which he said the government “will not tolerate attacks on mosques or on Muslim communities”, Musk replied: “Shouldn’t you be concerned about attacks on all communities?”

‘Nobody In America Gives A S**t’: Trump Slammed Over Labour ‘Election Interference’ Claim

Posted on 23/10/2024 by Boris Clair

Donald Trump’s claim that Labour is guilty of “blatant foreign interference” in the presidential election has been virtually ignored in America, it has emerged.

One senior US-based journalist claimed “nobody gives a shit” about the complaint his campaign team lodged on Tuesday night.

In it, they accused Labour of recruiting activists to send across the Atlantic to campaign for Trump’s Democrat rival, Kamala Harris.

The Republican nominee’s team also pointed out that Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, and his director of communications, Matthew Doyle, “attended a convention in Chicago and met with Ms Harris’s campaign team”.

The complaint to the US Federal Election Commission stems from a now-deleted LinkedIn post by Labour’s head of operations Sofia Patel, which claimed almost 100 current and former party officials were heading to campaign for the Democrats in battleground states.

Speaking to reporters on his way to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHoGM) in Samoa, the prime minister insisted the row would not derail the UK’s relationship with the White House if Trump becomes president again.

He said: “I spent time in New York with President Trump, had dinner with him and my purpose in doing that was to make sure that between the two of us, we established a good relationship, which we did, and we’re grateful for him for making the time.

“We had a good, constructive discussion, and, of course as prime minster of the United Kingdom I will work with whoever the American people return as their president in their elections which are very close now.”

Starmer also insisted that UK political activists travelling to America to campaign in presidential elections is nothing new.

He added: ”“Of course as prime minister of the United Kingdom, I will work with whoever the American people return as their president in the elections that are very close now.”

Daniel Knowles, Midwest correspondent at the highly-respected Economist magazine, insisted the story had barely registered in the US.

Writing on Bluesky, he said: “Sorry but nobody in America gives a shit about a few Labour activists door-knocking or whatever. The Trump complaint is entirely cynical, and one of dozens of random speculative press releases I was sent yesterday. I’m not surprised British media is as ever just fucking delighted for a local angle.

“The story here isn’t ‘is door knocking actually an illegal contribution’ etc. The legitimate UK angle to cover is, ‘Donald Trump will pick massive fights with the British government over nothing if it wins him a nice headline’. Which we know, from his conduct in office.”

Sorry but nobody in America gives a shit about a few Labour activists door-knocking or whatever. The Trump complaint is entirely cynical, and one of dozens of random speculative press releases I was sent yesterday. I’m not surprised British media is as ever just fucking delighted for a local angle

— Daniel Knowles (@dlknowles.bsky.social) October 23, 2024 at 12:17 PM

Shadow Scottish secretary John Lamont described the controversy as “a diplomatic car crash by this Labour government”.

He said: “There’s now somebody who could potentially be the next president of the United States who’s lodged an official complaint with the American authorities about the Labour party, the Labour government, and their involvement in their election.

“If Donald Trump were to win for the election in a few weeks, how on earth is the prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, going to rebuild that relationship with one of the most important countries in the world, not least from a diplomatic perspective, but also from a trading perspective?”

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “It is common practice for campaigners of all political persuasions from around the world to volunteer in US elections.

“Where Labour activists take part, they do so at their own expense, in accordance with the laws and rules.”

Exclusive: Labour Ministers’ Popularity In ‘Freefall’ As Make-Or-Break Budget Looms

Posted on 18/10/2024 by Boris Clair

It was, according to one Labour MP, a “barnstormer” of a speech.

Pat McFadden, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and the most powerful man in the country you’ve probably never heard of, was addressing the Parliamentary Labour Party in Committee Room 14 last Monday.

Not noted for his rousing oratory, the slightly-built, taciturn Glaswegian had decided that it was necessary to reassure those colleagues beginning to worry that being in government is not all that it was cracked up to be.

“Stability is underpriced in politics,” McFadden told them. “Having a stable government with a big majority has sent a powerful signal around the world.

“Don’t believe for a moment any notion of equivalence between recent headlines and the billions lost in Covid fraud, VIP lanes, lockdown parties in No.10 and the degradation of standards under the Tories.”

He then went on to list the things the Labour government has done in its first three months in office, before telling them that the upcoming Budget will have investment at its heart.

“That’s how we modernise the country, make people better off and generate wealth for public services,” McFadden said.

“Compare that to the Tory leadership election, where they are doubling down on arguments that had seen them lose, preaching to the choir not the public, with nothing to say about the economy, living standards, public services or the future.”

One newly-elected MP in attendance told HuffPost UK that McFadden had clearly wanted to “put some steel in our spines”.

However, he said there was no disguising the hidden message in the Cabinet Office minister’s address to his troops.

“He was telling us that things are going to get worse before they get better,” the MP said. “It felt a bit like we were being pushed off the top of a ski slope, which is fine until you take off and realise there’s nothing between you and the ground.”

Rachel Reeves will stand up at the Despatch Box on October 30 and explain how she plans to raise £40 billion by putting up taxes and slashing the welfare bill.

That would be a tough enough sell at the best of times, but polling by Savanta, seen by HuffPost UK, shows that the popularity of Keir Starmer and his top team is now in “freefall”.

The prime minister himself has seen his personal approval ratings plummet from plus 10 immediately after Labour’s landslide election victory to minus 17 today.

The last time he was that unpopular was back in 2021, in the wake of the disastrous Hartlepool by-election, which Labour lost to the Tories.

Reeves, meanwhile, is now the most unpopular member of the cabinet, with an approval rating of minus 19 (compared to plus 4 on July 5).

The poll also makes grim reading for deputy PM Angela Rayner (approval rating minus 15), David Lammy (minus 13), Yvette Cooper (minus 11) and Wes Streeting (minus 10).

Chris Hopkins, Savanta’s political research director, said: “The prime minister and his senior cabinet minister’s favourability ratings are in freefall, according to our research.

“Starmer’s popularity among the public hasn’t been this low in a Savanta poll since May 2021 – the nadir of his leadership, which he has since shared that he considered resigning at the time.

“This should be particularly concerning to Starmer and his colleagues, ahead of what already feels like a premiership-defining Budget from Rachel Reeves.

“She will do so with the lowest favourability ratings since Savanta began tracking this with the public. This is a real drop for the chancellor, who used to be one of the most popular members of the cabinet.”

All eyes will be on Rachel Reeves on October 30.

The findings will do little to improve the mood among an already-fractious cabinet.

Rayner, transport secretary Louise Haigh and justice secretary Shabana Mahmood have all written to the PM complaining about the huge cuts to their departmental budgets being sought by the chancellor.

That in turn has sparked its own backlash, with one cabinet minister telling HuffPost UK that his colleagues were “defending the severe Tory legacy”.

Another senior government figure said: “There’s no problem with people lobbying for money. It’s their job to do that.

“But if they are too public about it, it will backfire on them because if they don’t get more money they will look weak.”

A separate poll by the More in Common think-tank did provide a glimmer of hope for the prime minister and his chancellor, however.

It showed that around one-third of voters are not opposed to Reeves’ apparent plan to increase the employers’ rate of National Insurance.

Tory claims that this would break a Labour manifesto commitment also appear to have fallen on deaf ears, with only 34% of the public agreeing.

Luke Tryl, More in Common’s UK director, told HuffPost UK: “With only a third of voters saying they’d oppose a rise in employers’ National Insurance, for now at least it seems like raising the tax would be some low-hanging fruit for Labour as they seek to put together a Budget that balances the books without a return to austerity.”

But unless Reeves produces the mother of all rabbits out of her hat, there is unlikely to be much for the public to cheer on October 30.

The decision to remove the winter fuel allowance from millions of pensioners, taken shortly after the election, remains a running sore among voters.

One MP said: “It’s not costing us support, but it is costing us the loyalty of voters, and that’s even more dangerous.”

Pat McFadden may have to produce a few more barnstormers in the coming years to soothe Labour’s increasingly worried MPs.

‘No More Excuses’: Keir Starmer Condemns Israel Over ‘Dire Humanitarian Situation’ In Gaza

Posted on 18/10/2024 by Boris Clair

Keir Starmer has warned Israel that the world is running out of patience with it over the “dire humanitarian situation” in Gaza.

The prime minister said there cannot be “any more excuses” as he called on Tel Aviv to allow vital aid to get into the war-torn territory.

He also said the killing on Thursday of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by Israel “provides an opportunity for a step towards that ceasefire that we have long called for”.

Starmer was speaking in Berlin following talks with American president Joe Biden, German chancellor Olaf Scholz and French president Emmanuel Macron.

The PM said “no-one should mourn” the death of Sinwar, who he said had “the blood” of both Israelis and Palestinians on his hands.

“Allies will keep working together to de-escalate across the region, because we know there is no military-only solution,” he said.

“The answer is diplomacy and now we must make the most of this moment.

“What is needed now is a ceasefire, immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, immediate access to humanitarian aid and a return to the path towards the two-state solution. as the only way to deliver long-term peace and security.”

Starmer said the UK continues to “strongly support” Israel’s right to self-defence, but urged Tel Aviv to do more to help Gazans suffering due to the war.

He said: “The dire humanitarian situation cannot continue and I say once again to Israel, the world will not tolerate any more excuses on humanitarian assistance.

“Civilians in northern Gaza need food now. The UK strongly supports [the United Nations Relief and Works Agency] in the vital work it does in Gaza, across the [occupied Palestinian territories] and the region.

“UNRWA must be allowed to continue its life-saving support. The suffering must end, including in Lebanon, where we also need a ceasefire to implement a political plan.”

Too Much Drama Starmer: Can The PM’s No.10 Shake-Up Repair The ‘Shambles’ Of His First 100 Days In Power

Posted on 11/10/2024 by Boris Clair

No one ever said that being in government was easy. But few expected it to be quite as hard as Labour have made it look since the general election.

Keir Starmer today marks 100 days in power, a milestone moment that Liz Truss would have given her eye teeth to achieve.

In keeping with his ‘no drama Starmer’ image, he will spend it in 10 Downing Street rather than his grace-and-favour pile at Chequers. The problem for the prime minister is that his first three months in charge have seen rather more drama than he or his supporters would like.

Any honeymoon the new PM may have expected to enjoy on the back of his landslide election victory on July 4 is now well and truly over.

An opinion poll published last week showed that Labour’s lead over the effectively-leaderless Tories is now down to just one point, with Starmer himself now even more unpopular than Nigel Farage.

A succession of mis-steps, scandals and controversies have dogged his administration, effectively drowning out the work being done to implement Labour’s manifesto and deliver the “change” the party repeatedly promised the country during the election campaign.

“The first 100 days have been a shambles, to be frank,” one senior party figure told HuffPost UK.

“Keir’s come in on a platform of change and as far as the public is concerned they’ve been as bad as the Tories.”

The row over Starmer’s fondness for a freebie – including £20,000 for suits and glasses from Labour donor Lord Alli – has been a drag anchor on No.10′s recent attempts to get back on the front foot.

To try to finally get on top of the controversy, the PM announced earlier this month that he would be voluntarily paying back £6,000 for gifts – including tickets to see Taylor Swift at Wembley – received since the election.

But that seemed to fly in the face of Starmer’s earlier insistence he has done nothing wrong, while also inviting the media to ask other ministers if they would be following suit.

The blame for the payback gambit was laid at the door of Sue Gray, the PM’s chief of staff.

According to one insider, that was “the final nail in the coffin” for the former top civil servant, who was unceremoniously sacked as part of a wider shake-up which saw Morgan McSweeney, Gray’s arch-rival inside No.10, given her old job.

“Sue had to go because it just wasn’t working,” said one Labour source. “Hopefully with Morgan now calling the shots things will calm down and the government can actually get on with doing what it was they were elected to deliver.”

The Irishman, who co-ordinated Labour’s successful election campaign, has wasted little time in letting it be known that there will be plenty of changes to the way things are done in Downing Street from now on.

At the most recent political Cabinet meeting, McSweeney set out to Starmer’s top team what Labour has already done – including setting up GB Energy and kick-starting the re-nationalisation of the railways – to emphasise that it’s not all doom and gloom inside No.10.

“We’ll see more drive from the centre,” one of his allies told HuffPost UK. “We’ll be able to get across the PM’s aims and objectives in a way we haven’t so far.

“Morgan is just a much more political operator and he’ll be able to get the stuff Keir wants to do into the bloodstream of Westminster and the government as a whole.

“He also has a much stronger relationship with special advisers because he led the election campaign and people know what he wants to do. It will be quite a big change.”

Starmer himself is known to be deeply frustrated at the stuttering start his administration has made – another fault which has been laid at the door of Sue Gray, who was given the task of preparing Labour for government.

“I don’t think the plan for government was good,” one No.10 adviser said. “If it even exists, I’ve never even seen it. That made it all harder than it needed to be. That first 100 day grid of announcements just never really existed.

“Despite that there is good legislative stuff being done that will build up into the change that people will actually feel. As we get into the next 100 days and the next 1,000 days that will be the focus on the stuff we want to do.”

As well as the row over freebies, the decision to axe winter fuel payments for 10 million pensioners has also presented Labour’s opponents with an open goal.

Despite the government’s protestations that they inherited a £22 billion black hole in the public finances from the Conservatives, the majority of voters believe that was the wrong choice at the wrong time.

The Budget on October 30 – which Starmer has already warned will be “painful” for the country – is now even more important than it already was.

One the one hand, it presents Labour with a golden opportunity to reclaim the political narrative and get back on the front foot.

However, anything which resembles George Osborne’s “omnishambles” Budget of 2012 will simply re-affirm the belief among many voters that this is a government that is out of its depth.

One Starmer aide insisted the prime minister is managing to remain calm despite the storms buffeting his government.

“He knows that politics goes in ups and downs,” he said. “We had the same thing in opposition, but he’s never been someone who takes the highs or the lows too dramatically. He won’t be too worried about individual polls.”

A cabinet minister said that whatever the challenges of government, they were nothing compared to the frustration of opposition.

He also insisted that with the Conservatives about to lurch to the right under either Robert Jenrick or Kemi Badenoch, there was still plenty for Labour to be positive about.

“It’s great to be back in power,” he said. “Yes, we’ve had a few rocky headlines, but there have also been announcements on things like foreign investment, renters’ reform and how we’ll make work pay.

“The Tory leadership race also shows that they have learnt nothing from the beating they took on July 4.”

But as Keir Starmer chalks up his first century of days in No.10, he knows the pressure is now on to turn the warm words of the election campaign into concrete achievements.

Downing Street ‘Appalled’ By Reports Israel Fired At UN Base In Lebanon

Posted on 11/10/2024 by Boris Clair

The government is “appalled” by reports Israel deliberately hit a United Nations observation post in Lebanon, a No.10 spokesperson has said.

The United Nations interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) has claimed that Israel struck its facilities twice across 48 hours, as the conflict between the militant group of Hezbollah and Israel continues.

The peacekeeping force say fire from an Israeli tank wounded two peacekeepers and an observation tower on Thursday, while a similar attack happened on Friday.

“We were appalled to hear those reports and it is vital that peacekeepers and civilians are protected,” a Downing Street spokesperson said on the daily press briefing today.

“As you know we continue to call for an immediate ceasefire and an end to suffering and bloodshed. It is a reminder of the importance of us all renewing our diplomatic efforts to resolve this.”

A journalist then asked if prime minister Keir Starmer would support the comments from Ireland’s Taoiseach Simon Harris that Israel has broken international law.

The EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell has also said there was “no justification” for the Israeli strikes, and called them an “inadmissible act”, while Italy’s defence ministry summoned Israel’s ambassador in protest.

The No.10 spokesperson replied: “All parties must always do everything possible to protect civilians and comply with international law. But we continue to reiterate that and call for an immediate ceasefire.”

On Friday afternoon, Starmer told broadcasters: “I’m very concerned about the situation in Lebanon, in Gaza and the escalation more generally in relation to the conflict.

“So de-escalation, we have to find a political and diplomatic route forward here, and that’s why I’m working with allies and colleagues across the globe to ensure we get de-escalation of the situation.”

But Starmer has refused to say if that would involve limiting more arm exports to Israel, having already cut back on 10% of the licences last month.

He said: “We’re working with our colleagues to de-escalate, that’s the immediate priority.”

Two other peacekeepers were also hit in a separate explosion on Friday, according to the UN. One was taken to hospital.

Unifil also said several of its blast walls in its Lebanon base fell when the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) bulldozer hit the perimeter and tanks moved towards the UN.

The peacekeepers said this was a “serious development” and “any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law’.

Israel and the UN have locked horns repeatedly over the war in Gaza, as the organisation’s secretary-general Antonio Guterres has repeatedly condemned Israel’s actions.

Isreal banned him from the country last week, and described him as an “undesirable”.

Guterres also warned on Tuesday that Israeli attacks on Lebanon were destabilising the Middle East.

He said: “Attacks, including on civilians, are threatening the entire region.

“Large-scale Israeli strikes deep into Lebanon, including Beirut, have killed more than 2,000 people over the last year, with 1,500 of those deaths occurring in just the past two weeks.”

Rescue workers search for victims at the site of Thursday's Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. — Rescue workers search for victims at the site of Thursday’s Israeli airstrike in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024.

Keir Starmer Angrily Rules Out Israeli Arms Sales Ban As He Calls For End To War

Posted on 07/10/2024 by Boris Clair

Keir Starmer has ruled out a complete ban on UK arms sales to Israel – but warned that the Middle East cannot endure another year of war.

Speaking on the first anniversary of the Hamas terror attacks on Israel which killed more than 1,200 innocent civilians, the prime minister insisted the country had the right to defend itself.

But as the death toll continues to rise in Gaza and Lebanon, Starmer urged all sides in the conflict to “step back from the brink” before it is too late.

The government sparked outrage last month by announcing that around 30 arms exports licences to Israel were being suspended, out of a total of around 350.

In the Commons on Monday, independent MP Zarah Sultana called on the PM to go even further.

She said: “In light of Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza, the violence in the West Bank and invasion of Lebanon, I ask the prime minister if he believes Israel’s right to self defence justifies a death toll, according to research by US medical professionals who work in Gaza, has now surpassed 118,000, as well as the 2,000 people killed in Lebanon.

“Will he do what is morally and legally right and end the government’s complicity in war crimes by banning all arms sales to Israel, including F-35 fighter jets, not just 30 licences. Yes or no?”

The PM replied: “No. But it is a really serious point. Banning all sales would mean none for defensive purposes, on the anniversary of October 7 and days after a huge attack by Iran into Israel, would be the wrong position for this government and I will not take it.”

In a statement marking one year on from the October 7 Hamas attacks, Starmer said: “We support Israel’s right to defend herself against Iran’s aggression in line with international law.”

But he added: “The region cannot endure another year of this.

“Civilians on all sides have suffered too much. All sides must now step back from the brink and find the courage of restraint.”

He said Hamas’ actions on October 7 were supported by Iran, which played a “malign role” in the region, also backing Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and the Yemen-based Houthis.

The prime minister said the first anniversary of the attack was a “day of grief” for the wider Middle East.

“Over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed, tens of thousands orphaned, almost two million displaced, facing disease, starvation, desperation, without proper healthcare or shelter.

“It is a living nightmare and it must end.”

WellnessMaster

Get The Latest News on Holistic Wellness

Tag Archives: keir starmer