Ed Miliband says Starmer wants to end ‘class divide’ in push to move past leadership turmoil – UK politics live
Miliband says PM has ‘burning passion’ to end ‘class divide’ – but that it’s ‘balderdash’ to call this class war
In his Today interview, when Ed Miliband said that Keir Starmer has a “burning passion” to end the “class divide” in British politics (see 9.15am), Nick Robinson, the presenter, said that Miliband would be accused of promoting class war.
It was a fair guess. Within minutes, a Mail journalist posted this on social media.
Ed Miliband suggests Starmer will now wage a new class war: ‘What angers Keir most is class, the class divide – he exists to change that.
‘I dispute the idea this is not someone driven by burning passion.
‘He knows we need more of that and we are going to see more of that
When Robinson put it to him that he was suggesting class war, Miliband replied:
Come off it …
It’s not class war, Nick.
It means that so many people from working class backgrounds are looked down upon in our country, are held back in our country, whether it’s from not getting an apprenticeship, not being able to rise up. The inequalities we face hold people back.
Keir is about changing that, not just social mobility for a few, but recognition for everybody, a decent life for everybody. That’s what motivates him.
Absolute balderdash that it’s about class war.
Key events
Miliband says he does not agree with Streeting’s claim about Labour having ‘no growth strategy’ in message to Mandelson
Yesterday Wes Streeting, the health secretary, published his private WhatsApp messages exchanged with Peter Mandelson. Under the terms of the humble addressed passed by MPs on Wednesday last week, they would have been published anyway. But Streeting, one of the cabinet ministers most friendly with Mandelson, was potentially more at risk from what might come out than most of his colleagues, and so he decided to pre-empt the humble address by publishing them anyway.
The full set of messages is on the ITV News website here. And here is our story, by Peter Walker and Pippa Crerar.
In a message sent in March last year, Streeting said that the government had “no growth strategy at all”.
Asked about this on Sky News, Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, said:
I think that actually Rachel has done a very good job as chancellor.
I don’t agree with – if that’s what, I haven’t seen the detail of the messages – but I think we’ve seen the stability that is essential.
We’ve seen investment. I’m announcing today.
Miliband runs out running again for Labour leadership
And here are some more lines from Ed Miliband’s inteviews this morning.
-
Miliband, the energy secretary, rejected suggestions that Keir Starmer woud not be in office for much longer. When this was put to him on BBC Breakfast, he replied: “I don’t agree with that.”
-
He told the BBC’s Nick Robinson that that Robinson was “a bit too far” when he said that Miliband’s call for more “boldness” made it sound as if he wanted Labour to be a bit more like Zack Polanski, the Green leader.
Miliband says he does not know if Sarwar’s move against Starmer plotted with others, and urges party to ‘move on’
The Telegraph is running a story today saying that “Wes Streeting has been accused of orchestrating a leadership coup against Sir Keir Starmer”.
The report says that Wes Streeting, the health secretary with ambitions to be the next PM, spoke to Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, on Saturday, two days before Sarwar said that he wanted Keir Starmer to stand down.
And the Telegraph says:
One leftwing Labour source told The Telegraph: “Everyone from the PM down to the most junior bag carrier knows who was behind the McChicken Coup. And his name rhymes with Les Weeting.”
The McChicken Coup refers to apparent efforts to use the ousting of Morgan McSweeney, Sir Keir’s chief of staff, to force the Prime Minister to step aside.
A spokesperson for Streeting told the Telegraph:
Wes did not ask Anas to do this; he did not coordinate with Anas on this. Anas is the leader of the Scottish Labour party; he is his own man, and Wes has the highest respect for him.
In his interview on Sky News this morning, Ed Miliband was asked if he thought that Sarwar had been plotting with Streeting. “I don’t know,” he said. “I’m not going to get into the Kremlinology of all that.”
When it was put to him that the Streeting spokesperson also claimed in their comment to the Telegraph that No 10 had been briefing against Streeting, alleging disloyalty, and he was asked to respond, Miliband said:
Move on dot org. I mean, let’s just get on. Let’s just move past all this.
Come on. I’m saying to our colleagues – don’t focus on yourselves. Focus on the country. That’s what Keir’s message was last night and he’s dead right.
Miliband says PM has ‘burning passion’ to end ‘class divide’ – but that it’s ‘balderdash’ to call this class war
In his Today interview, when Ed Miliband said that Keir Starmer has a “burning passion” to end the “class divide” in British politics (see 9.15am), Nick Robinson, the presenter, said that Miliband would be accused of promoting class war.
It was a fair guess. Within minutes, a Mail journalist posted this on social media.
Ed Miliband suggests Starmer will now wage a new class war: ‘What angers Keir most is class, the class divide – he exists to change that.
‘I dispute the idea this is not someone driven by burning passion.
‘He knows we need more of that and we are going to see more of that
When Robinson put it to him that he was suggesting class war, Miliband replied:
Come off it …
It’s not class war, Nick.
It means that so many people from working class backgrounds are looked down upon in our country, are held back in our country, whether it’s from not getting an apprenticeship, not being able to rise up. The inequalities we face hold people back.
Keir is about changing that, not just social mobility for a few, but recognition for everybody, a decent life for everybody. That’s what motivates him.
Absolute balderdash that it’s about class war.
The latest edition of the Guardian’s Politics Weekly UK podcast is out. It features Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey talking about yesterday’s apparent bid to topple Keir Starmer.
Miliband says Starmer facing down leadership threat must lead to ‘moment of change’, with more ‘clarity’ and ‘boldness’
Good morning. One consequence of yesterday – when for a few hours it looked as if Tim Allan’s resignation and Anas Sarwar’s declaration of no confidence looked like the start of a leadership coup that would have topped Keir Starmer if cabinet ministers (and Angela Rayner) had not rallied round – is that Starmer needs a new communications director at No 10.
Listening to the morning media round, it sounds like he should appoint Ed Miliband. Because the energy secretary did an excellent job defending Starmer, in terms that implied Starmer’s premiership isn’t, or at least shouldn’t be, terminally damaged.
Miliband’s most important message came in his interview in the Today programme, when he argued that what happened yesterday had to be “a moment of change” for the Labour government.
Referring to what happened yesterday, Miliband said:
Labour MPs looked over the precipice, once Anas Sarwar made his statement, and they didn’t like what they saw.
And they thought the right thing to do was to unite behind Keir, to focus on the country, because we didn’t want to go down the road of the Tories when they were in power – chaotic, disorderly leadership contest.
But I want to be very clear; Peter Mandelson should never have been appointed to this post. We are a government whose central purpose, I believe, is to stand up for the powerless, not the powerful, and it undermines that.
And this has got to be … a moment of change where we have much greater clarity of purpose, avoid some of the mistakes that we’ve made, but also focus outwards on the country.
Miliband said that the govermment was doing lots of good things, but they were being “drowned out” by policy mistakes like getting rid of winter fuel payments. (Sarwar made exactly this point yesterday, also using the phrase “drowned out”.) Miliband said that in politics “what gets you through is a sense of your values and your moral mission” and he said that Starmer had a mission like that.
For 20 years, this country has been run for the wealthy and powerful, not ordinary working people. And the manifestation of that is this long-term cost of living crisis. We we exist to change that. That is our mission and everything must be consistent with that purpose.
Miliband said the public were “angry”, and they wanted “boldness” for political leaders.
But when the presenter, Nick Robinson, put it Miliband that, while Starmer has many strengths, boldness is not one of them, Miliband said he did not accept that.
I know Keir well. I know somebody who is in politics for all the right reasons.
I’ll tell you what angers Keir most about this country. It’s class. It’s the class divide … He exists to change that. I absolutely dispute the idea that this isn’t somebody driven by burning passion about the injustices our country faces and how we need to change them. We need more of that. He knows we need more of that. I think we’re going to see more of that.
Often in the interview it sounded as if Miliband were talking as much about his beliefs as about Starmer’s. But, asked if he wanted to be leader himself, he insisted that he didn’t. “Tried that, got the t-shirt,” he said.
I will post more from the Miliband interviews soon.
Here is the agenda for the day.
Morning: Keir Starmer chairs a political cabinet.
Morning: Kemi Badenoch is in a visit in London.
11.30am: Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
Noon: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
12.20pm: Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, speaks at a Resolution Foundation conference.
1.30pm: Eluned Morgan, the Welsh first minister, takes questions in the Senedd. Unlike her Scottish Labour counterpart, she has yet to comment on yesterday’s Keir Starmer leadership crisis.
2.30pm: Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan police commissioner, gives evidence to the Commons home affairs committee.
Afternoon: Starmer is expected to do a visit.
If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (between 10am and 3pm), or message me on social media. I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.
If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X, but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.
I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.