Fresh humiliation for Keir Starmer as minister delivers brutal warning
Keir Starmer faced fresh humiliation after a Cabinet Minister warned that his government will make more mistakes.
Sir Keir Starmer’s government relaunch immediately hit the buffers after one of his top team warned that his “young government” could make further mistakes.
Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said there were “bound to be missteps” during the early days of a new administration.
Her withering assessment heaped further humiliation on the Prime Minister as he attempted to reset his government following a calamitous two months in Downing Street and the ousting of chief of staff Sue Gray.
Sir Keir chaired Cabinet on Tuesday for the first time since shaking up his team of senior advisers and replacing Ms Gray with election guru Morgan McSweeney after weeks of leaks and hostile briefing about the No 10 operation.
Senior figures had warned he had to act fast to restore public confidence after one of the most chaotic starts by any new government.
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Downing Street said the PM discussed the change of personnel during Cabinet, insisting he was focused on “delivering the change that he was elected to deliver”.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “He did briefly speak about the appointment made, consistently with the statement that was put out over the weekend… and in the context of the Cabinet discussion on delivering for the country, delivering on the change that he was elected to deliver.”
Mr McSweeney was in the room for the Cabinet meeting, although he had previously attended in his former role anyway.
The signs of discontent within Sir Keir’s inner circle, within 100 days of taking office, continued despite Ms Gray being removed from the heart of No 10.
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An ally of Ms Gray told The Times she had been the victim of an “out-of-control group” of senior male advisers who felt threatened by her.
“Either Starmer wasn’t across what was going on or he was and he let them do it. Frankly neither is a good look,” the unnamed ally said.
“You simply can’t have a lot of out-of-control special advisers ousting a chief of staff.”
Ms Haigh denied that Sir Keir had a problem with women, a charge levelled against him publicly by former Labour MP Rosie Duffield.
“I am a senior woman in the Cabinet and I sit in front of you as the youngest ever woman to sit in any British cabinet,” she told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
“We have the first female Chancellor (Rachel Reeves), we have a female Deputy Prime Minister (Angela Rayner), we are gender balanced as a Cabinet and we have more women Labour MPs than the Tories have MPs in total.
“So I just don’t recognise those characterisations at all.”
Asked if further mistakes may occur, she said: “No government is perfect and I am not going to sit here today and promise you there is going to be no mistakes made.”
