Starmer has ‘lost control’ of government, Badenoch says
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch claimed the prime minister was “desperately trying to cling on to his own job”, before pivoting the exchange towards the UK’s rising unemployment figures.
She also accused Starmer of being “a weak prime minister at war with his own cabinet”.
“Two weeks before the Budget, isn’t it the case that this prime minister has lost control of his government, has lost the confidence of his party and lost the trust of the British media?”
Starmer said during the exchange that health secretary Wes Streeting was in Manchester today to make an announcement around his NHS restructuring plans.
‘Mad’: Labour in crisis after Starmer declares he will fight any challenger
One minister called it the “one of the weirdest briefing decisions I have ever seen” and on Wednesday recriminations were flying in Downing Street after Sir Keir Starmer’s team conjured up a leadership crisis out of nowhere, just two weeks ahead of the Budget.
Tuesday’s briefing from inside Number 10 that Starmer would fight any leadership challenge propelled low-level Westminster gossip into a political crisis, as the prime minister advertised the weakness of his own position.
Another minister simply called the briefings “mad” and inside Number 10 the blame game had already started on Wednesday.
Read the inside story into the blame game from the FT’s Political Editor George Parker.
Sterling falls further as investors weigh impact of political uncertainty
The pound extended its decline against the dollar on Wednesday afternoon, continuing a gradual slide as the Labour leadership row rumbled on.
The pound also hit a two-year low against the euro, having dropped 0.3 per cent.
“Suffice to say that market focus is now quickly shifting to the political dynamics as opposed to Budget speculation,” said Sanjay Raja, chief UK economist at Deutsche Bank.