2 days ago
10
As Keir Starmer’s cabinet gathered last week, a female minister spoke directly to the prime minister to complain about the leaks and briefings she saw directed against other women around the table.
The women were listed by name, including the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson; the work and pensions secretary, Liz Kendall, and the home secretary, Yvette Cooper. Starmer was furious and said he would no longer tolerate malicious briefings, and that there would be consequences if it did not stop.
“Cabinet really no longer feels like a safe space for genuine debate,” one minister said, though other sources point out that details of key policies, such as defence spending, have not been leaked.
The order from Starmer came after weeks of tension felt by some women in the cabinet. Many are tasked with some of the hardest jobs in government, putting them at the centre of public anger over hard welfare cuts or the toxic environment over immigration, or becoming a target for Tory attacks over school reforms.
Almost a dozen female Labour MPs who spoke to the Guardian said they were unnerved at how female cabinet ministers appeared to be getting the brunt of the blame for issues in government – though there is less sympathy for the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, because of anger over the Treasury’s handling of spending cuts and welfare.
Among some of the new intake of MPs, there is a strong feeling that any ultimate successor to Starmer should be a woman – and a resentment of what they see as a campaign to anoint Wes Streeting.
Allies of the health secretary deny he is behind any negative briefing. One pointed out Streeting’s close and long-running friendships with Phillipson and Reeves.
“Keir has given Wes the chance to save the NHS that saved his life. It’s a seven-day-a-week job and he’s completely focused on that,” one ally said.
Others in Whitehall and in parliament say they feel it is No 10 or Treasury aides who are responsible for frustrated briefing, whether towards Kendall, who has fought an internal battle over the welfare cuts and funding for jobs programmes; Phillipson, for the handling of the academy changes, or others, such as the deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, because of political differences.
Streeting has cemented his status as No 10’s favoured voice in the media – whether on his own health brief or as a political attack dog against the Tories and Reform. He launched the party’s Runcorn byelection on Friday by criticising Nigel Farage, saying Reform would “dismantle our NHS from top to bottom”.
It might be expected that Streeting’s ubiquity in the media, his skill at skewering rightwingers and his responsibility for major NHS spending in the policy area, which is a key priority of Labour members, would make him a popular choice among the party grassroots. But he is actually one of the least popular, according to a poll from LabourList, in front of only Kendall, Reeves and the attorney general, Richard Hermer.
At the moment he has no obvious female rival as the heir apparent. Senior cabinet ministers who did not want to see Streeting win had previously coalesced around Reeves, but her unpopular decisions as chancellor have meant that is no longer the case. Other ministers would back Rayner, but she would face a brutal press onslaught.
Among Labour members there is no doubt, however. Rayner is streets ahead of her rivals in terms of popularity with the grassroots, according to the poll from Survation. There is only one cabinet minister ahead of her, who is probably the least likely of anyone around the table to have another shot at the top job – Ed Miliband.
