Labour in free fall as No10 fears threat to Starmer’s leadership
“Wes Streeting has said suggestions he is ready to launch a leadership bid against Sir Keir Starmer are “self-destructive” as he pledged his loyalty to the prime minister. The health secretary denied he would challenge Starmer after the budget and said “whoever has been briefing this has been watching too much Celebrity Traitors”. The Times revealed on Tuesday that Starmer has privately vowed to fight any challenge to his leadership after the budget or next year’s local elections. Streeting was forced to deny rumours — believed by some in Starmer’s inner circle — that he was among the plotters. On Wednesday he said it was “totally self-defeating” for people to brief against him “not least because it’s not true” but also because it is “not helpful to the prime minister”… Asked if he was saying he would never stand against Starmer, Streeting told BBC Breakfast: “I’m not doing that. I’m not challenging the prime minister, I’m not standing against him.” Pushed again on standing against Starmer in the future, he said: “I cannot see the circumstances in which I would do that to our prime minister.” Streeting told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that he had not spoken to Starmer since the briefing and that whoever briefed against him should be sacked, adding: “I think it’s extremely unhelpful, not least because it basically says, from a No 10 source, the prime minister’s fighting for his own job. No he’s not. He’s fighting to turn around the country.” Allies of the prime minister told The Times on Tuesday that he would not resign in the event of an attempt to remove him and would fight to win a leadership contest triggered by his MPs. Starmer is alive to the growing threat to his position and is “already fighting the leadership election” with outreach to Labour backbenchers, his allies said. He has told ministers that any attempted coup would destabilise Britain’s standing on the financial markets and its relationship with foreign governments. His insistence that he would not be forced from office raises the stakes for cabinet ministers who are said to be preparing to force him out of Downing Street. Senior government figures said they had been told Streeting had 50 frontbenchers willing to step down if the budget was received badly and the prime minister failed to resign.” – The Times
- Wes Streeting denies plotting to oust Keir Starmer as prime minister – The Guardian
- Starmer will fight attempts to replace him, allies say – BBC News
- Starmer ready to fight any challenge to oust him, insists No 10 – Daily Telegraph
- Starmer allies issue warning to PM’s rivals as fears grow over leadership challenge – The Guardian
- Labour leadership crisis erupts after Streeting denies plotting to bring down Starmer – The Independent
Comment:
- This useless Government might not make it to 2029 – Jeremy Warner, Daily Telegraph
- Thin majorities and chaotic strategy push Labour MPs toward regime change – Jessica Elgot, The Guardian
One million more on benefits with no need to seek work
“Interest rates are set to fall to a near three-year low next month to counteract unemployment rising to its highest level since the pandemic after Rachel Reeves’s first budget. The Bank of England is poised to deliver a last-minute rate cut before the end of the year, analysts predicted, to boost the economy amid rising joblessness, slower inflation and sluggish pay growth. Markets predicted that the monetary policy committee (MPC) — the nine economists at the Bank who set the base rate — would vote in favour of reducing borrowing costs to 3.75 per cent from 4 per cent at its next meeting on December 18. That would bring rates down to their lowest level since January 2023. The Bank “will react to weaker than expected job growth with a rate cut in December, and will be eyeing a follow-up reduction in early 2026”, Rob Wood, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, a research company, said. Rising unemployment, sluggish recruitment and weaker pay growth highlight “a further softening in the jobs market and support our view that another rate cut will be made in December by the Bank of England”, said Liam Daly, senior economist at the Centre for Economics and Business Research, a consultancy. The predictions came after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Tuesday that unemployment jumped to 5 per cent in the three months to September, the highest level since early 2021, when the UK was in the third Covid-19 lockdown. When Labour took office in July last year, unemployment was 4.2 per cent.” – The Times
- Britain’s biggest jobless families in line for taxpayer-funded windfalls worth thousands as Labour prepares to scrap two-child benefit cap – Daily Mail
- Another day in Starmer’s socialist paradise! 1,000 jobs A DAY are now lost under Reeves with experts warning the ‘madness’ of Labour policies will see the crisis get even WORSE – This Is Money
- Labour’s jobs bloodbath sees 1,000 British workers axed daily as unemployment soars to 5% – Daily Express
- Economists Question UK Unemployment Rise That Rattled Markets – Bloomberg
- Unemployment rate hits 5% – highest since end of Covid pandemic – Channel 4 News
- Traders bet on rate cuts to support ‘weakening’ economy – Daily Telegraph
Comment:
- Britain’s abysmal unemployment figures are the clearest recession indicator yet – James Moore, The Independent
- The real reason Starmer and Reeves are scrapping the two-child benefit cap – Kitty Donaldson, The i
- Reeves’s sop to the Left is an insult to responsible Britons – Annabel Denham, Daily Telegraph
‘I have an obligation to sue the BBC,’ says Trump
“Donald Trump has said he has an “obligation” to sue the BBC over an edit of a speech he gave before the US Capitol riot in 2021. The president doubled down on his legal threat to the corporation in a Fox News interview on Tuesday night, as the corporation remains in crisis after the resignation of two of its top figures – including director-general Tim Davie. “They defrauded the public, and they’ve admitted it,” Mr Trump said. “And this is within one of our great allies, you know?” It came after concerns emerged about a Panorama documentary from last year which showed Mr Trump appearing to tell supporters he was going to walk to the Capitol with them to “fight like hell”. There was in fact around an hour in between the two parts of the speech that were spliced together. He told Fox News the Panorama edit had made a “beautiful” and “very calming speech” sound “radical”, which was “incredible” and “very dishonest”. Mr Trump had faced charges of trying to overturn the 2020 election in light of the violence that befell the Capitol in January 2021, but those efforts were dropped when he beat Kamala Harris in 2024. Mr Trump is threatening to sue the BBC for $1bn unless it issues a “full and fair retraction” of the documentary, apologises immediately, and “appropriately” compensates him. It’s been given a deadline of 10pm UK time on Friday. The BBC has come under increasingly heavy fire from its critics in the UK over the Panorama programme. The Conservatives have demanded it apologise to Mr Trump and the public, while Reform has reportedly pulled out of a documentary the corporation was planning about the party.” – Sky News
- Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy defends BBC as fallout over Trump edit continues – ITV News
- This is how Trump can sue the BBC and make them pay – Daily Telegraph
- Reform UK pulls out of BBC film after Trump edit row – BBC News
- Trump Insists He Has An ‘Obligation’ To Sue BBC: ‘They Defrauded The Public’ – HuffPost
Comment:
- The BBC isn’t the only British institution that is self-sabotaging – Philip Johnston, Daily Telegraph
- Unless the BBC puts its house in order, future generations will never know how it feels to have a trusted broadcaster at the heart of our national life – Sarah Vine, Daily Mail
- BBC must not take its audience for granted – The Times View
- Sir Ed, attacking Robbie Gibb doesn’t change the facts about BBC bias – Alan Cochrane, Daily Telegraph
- Sir Robbie Gibb is NOT a Tory stooge. He’s the BBC board member who’s standing up for licence payers – Andrew Pierce, Daily Mail
- This is not a Right-wing coup. The British Brainwashing Corporation is reaping what it sowed – Alison Pearson, Daily Telegraph
News in brief:
- Epping migrant hotel ruling undermines Labour’s asylum plans – Henry Hill, UnHerd
- The Right must stop playing the victim – John Hardy, The Critic
- Germany’s rearmament puts Britain to shame – Henry Donovan, The Spectator
- How to fix the foundations of the British state – Andreas Wesemann, CapX
