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2 weeks ago
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Ed Miliband has said Keir Starmer must lead a “moment of change” for the government, saying that Labour needs to end the briefing wars against its own members and show “a greater clarity of purpose”.
After a day of turmoil where the Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, called for Starmer to resign, Labour MPs rallied around the prime minister after a speech in parliament.
Miliband described Starmer as “liberated”, 24 hours after the departure of his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that he hoped that the truest version of Starmer would now show itself to the country.
“I’m one of his closest friends in politics, I have had a frustration, that the private Keir we know hasn’t been sufficiently on display to the public,” he said.
Asked if Labour should end the briefing wars, Miliband, who is now the energy secretary but led Labour from 2010 to 2015, said: “Yes of course … factionalism, sectarianism never serves the Labour party. I think we need the widest possible set of talents across our party.”
In public, the full cabinet rallied behind the prime minister, though potential leadership rivals including Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting appeared to be readying for a future contest. But most MPs leaving the speech said they believed the prime minister’s determination to fight for the party had given him a fresh chance.
“This has got to be a moment of change for the government, a moment of change where we show much greater clarity of purpose, consistency of purpose,” Miliband told Sky News. “And my experience in politics is what gets you through very difficult days is mission and values.”
Miliband hinted that Starmer and the government had to show more that they were behind ordinary working people suffering from the high cost of living. Last night the soft-left Tribune group, led by some close allies of Miliband, said the departure of key No 10 figures such as McSweeney should prompt a wider cabinet reshuffle and an end to factionalism.
Miliband said it was not just the appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador and the newly revealed extent of his links with Jeffery Epstein that had caused this moment of crisis for the government.
“We’ve made mistakes in policy which drowned out the many good things we’re doing as a government, like winter fuel, for example, wasn’t consistent with our values as a government, but we need to change.
“I think what I saw from Keir last night was someone who wants to seize this moment and make it a moment of change, to reconnect with the country. I know we have a Herculean task … to move on from this episode. Lots of people in the country will be incredibly angry about what’s happened, and they’re right to be angry.”
Miliband said the purpose of Labour in government was that “for too long, this country has been run for the wealthy and powerful, and that needs to change.
“I think the job for all of us is to work out how to be bolder in that. We’ve had a longstanding cost of living crisis … and people are hurting, and so I think the job of all of us, and leadership is a collective business, is to show how we can master that challenge.”
Miliband said he was “absolutely not” preparing to run for the leadership himself, saying he had been “inoculated against that” during his time as leader of the opposition. He said he still counted Sarwar as a friend but said he made “a wrong judgment yesterday. I don’t agree with him.”
He said the speech given by Starmer at the Labour parliamentary meeting had pulled the party back from the brink of leadership change. “I think you saw a will among the people there to get behind Keir, give him the time and space to reset the government.
“And by the way, it was a different Keir last night, a more liberated Keir. It was the Keir I know, decency, integrity and he knew what he was fighting for with great clarity.”
