Ed Miliband tells colleagues to ‘move on’ after their attempt to oust Keir Starmer

Open Editor’s Digest for free

Rula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times, picks her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has told his Cabinet colleagues to “keep working” and “focus on the country” in the wake of the failed attempt to oust Sir Keir Starmer from Downing Street.

Miliband’s comments on Tuesday came after allies of the embattled Prime Minister claimed that a call by Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labor leader, for Starmer to resign was coordinated with Health Secretary Wes Streeting.

When asked about the allegation and Streeting’s denial, the energy minister said: “Move on dot org. I mean, let’s keep moving forward. Let’s get past all of this. We’ll move forward.”

The former Labor leader told Sky News: “I say to our colleagues – don’t focus on yourselves, focus on the country. That’s what Keir’s message was last night and he’s right.”

Starmerwho took office in July 2024, rallied MPs at a raucous meeting of the Parliamentary Labor Party on Monday evening.

“Having fought so hard for the opportunity to change our country, I am not ready to give up my mandate and responsibility to my country,” he told the meeting.

In separate statements to the BBC. Miliband He admitted Starmer faced a “moment of danger” on Monday.

He urged the Prime Minister to embrace the “moment for change” following the scandal of Lord Peter Mandelson’s relations with Jeffrey Epstein, and to show greater clarity of purpose and focus on voters.

“For 20 years, this country has been run for the rich and powerful, not for ordinary workers,” Miliband said. “The manifestation of that is a long-term cost of living crisis. We are here to change that.”

Starmer has moved in recent days to stem the fallout from the Mandelson scandal, with Morgan McSweeney quitting as his chief of staff on Sunday and Tim Allan leaving his No 10 communications director post on Monday morning.

The Prime Minister is also preparing to replace Sir Chris Wormald as Cabinet Secretary and Britain’s highest-ranking civil servant. Wormald was only appointed to the role in December but has been appointed The approach has since been criticized By government figures.

McSweeney, widely seen as the architect of Labour’s landslide 2024 election victory, said in his resignation statement that he took full responsibility for advising Starmer to appoint Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US, despite his counterpart’s known links to sex offender Epstein. Mandelson was removed from his position in September last year.

The Metropolitan Police are now investigating Epstein’s financial payments to Mandelson and the leaking of sensitive government information to the financier while he was business secretary and de facto deputy prime minister in 2009 and 2010.

The Met on Tuesday warned ministers against following Streeting’s lead by publishing their private correspondence with Mandelson.

Streeting posted dozens of text messages on Monday that he exchanged with Mandelson, saying he had “nothing to hide.”

It comes as government ministers and advisers prepare to hand over WhatsApp messages, texts and email exchanges with Mandelson in relation to his appointment as UK ambassador to Washington to the cross-party Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), which will decide what will be published.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Metropolitan Police – which last week said it was investigating Mandelson for possible misconduct in public office – said: “It is important that due process is followed so that our criminal investigation and any potential prosecution are not compromised.”

The force said it would review material provided to it by the Cabinet Office to assess whether its publication was likely to have a “detrimental impact” on its investigations or any subsequent prosecution.

As Labor braces for poor results in May elections in Scotland, Wales and parts of England, Starmer faces calls from his party’s left to try to win back voters lured by the Greens and Liberal Democrats, rather than compete with the UK’s right-wing Reform Party.

Starmer has described the next general election, which must take place by the summer of 2029, as a battle between Labor and Reform for the “soul of the country”. McSweeney was one of the key figures in Downing Street who opposed the shift to the left.

Eluned Morgan, Labour’s first minister for Wales, backed Starmer on Tuesday, saying: “I support the Prime Minister in the job he was elected to do. After years of dizzying leadership under the Conservatives, the country needs stability in an era of instability, and this is important for Wales.”

But Miliband criticized Number 10 for giving the role of US envoy to Mandelson, who was twice sacked from government posts under Sir Tony Blair due to scandals involving wealthy people.

“I want to be very clear: Peter Mandelson should never have been appointed to this position,” Miliband said. “We are a government whose primary purpose, I think, is to defend the weak, not the strong, and this undermines that.”