Sir Keir Starmer will face MPs at Prime Minister’s Questions after a briefing war in which his allies insisted he is ready to fight off challenges to his leadership.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who has denied plotting to oust the Prime Minister in a coup, will also be in the public eye on Wednesday – facing the media morning round and later speaking at a health conference.
A cloak-and-dagger briefing war emerged on Tuesday night, in which allies of the Prime Minister came out fighting on his behalf amid fears his job could be under threat in as little as two weeks’ time, after the Budget.
A spokesman for Mr Streeting was forced to deny reports that he has a group of some 50 Labour frontbenchers ready to walk away from Government should the November 26 financial statement land badly.
Reporting over the last week has suggested a growing number of Labour MPs are unhappy with the Prime Minister’s performance and the party’s poll ratings, and are plotting a coup.
The Budget is also reportedly proving unpopular, with backbenchers anxious about the prospect of tax rises which break the party’s manifesto commitments.
The Prime Minister’s senior political aides are said to have warned attempts to oust him will lead to market chaos, and would upend international relations and the Labour Party.
An evening flurry of briefings from No 10 came as part of a ploy to put down several senior Labour figures who are said to be “on manoeuvres” to supplant Sir Keir, according to reporting by the Guardian, the Times and the BBC, among others.
No 10 has singled out the Health Secretary to warn off other potential leadership challenges from senior Labour figures including Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, the reports said.
But a spokesman for Mr Streeting said the claims he is willing to challenge Sir Keir “are categorically untrue”.
The spokesman added: “Wes’s focus has entirely been on cutting waiting lists for the first time in 15 years, recruiting 2,500 more GPs, and rebuilding the NHS that saved his life.”
A No 10 insider, meanwhile, praised Mr Streeting as a brilliant health secretary, and insisted the reports were all hypothetical speculation.
The Prime Minister would fight any challenge to his leadership, the senior figure said, but added launching one would be irresponsible, and insisted Sir Keir was focused on governing.
However, one critic within Government told several news outlets No 10 had gone into “full bunker mode, turning on their most loyal Cabinet members for absolutely no reason”.
“A circular firing squad won’t help the Government out of the hole we’re in,” they added.
Challengers for the Labour leadership can initiate an election with the support of 20% of the party’s MPs, which currently means 80 nominations would be needed.
Labour affiliates, including the trade unions, would be able to vote in the ballot alongside individual members.
