Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has admitted the briefing war amid her Cabinet colleagues “frustrates the hell out of her” in a candid moment on GB News.
Joining the People’s Channel host Camilla Tominey, Ms Nandy demanded the conclusion of the “deeply frustrating” war of words behind-the-scenes between Health Secretary Wes Streeting and No10.
The desperate plea has followed Mr Streeting’s allies taking aim at No10 over conducting a “needless and completely baffling” briefing war against the Ilford North MP.
They asked why their party insisted on “hitting itself in the face with a frying pan” in the middle of a Westminster war breaking out between Reform UK and the Conservative Party following Robert Jenrick’s dramatic defection.
Sources close to Mr Streeting made the claims following reports Labour ministers were calling on Sir Keir to oust his Health Secretary over “disloyalty”.
Asked if the Cabinet was a nest of vipers vying to replace Sir Keir Starmer, Ms Nandy told the Camilla Tominey Show: “Well, I don’t agree with that. I mean, you wouldn’t expect me to agree with that, but I won’t lie to you. It is deeply, deeply frustrating.
Ms Nandy told GB News: “I don’t want to dress it up for you, it frustrates the hell out of me.
“You’ve got people at the moment who have had 15 years of life just getting harder and harder, worrying whether the opportunities that they had will be on offer for their kids, and quite often, over recent decades, feeling that the answer is no, and we’ve got one shot to turn that around.
‘I just wish they’d stop it,’ Ms Nandy told Camilla
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GB NEWS
Nevertheless, she added: “I do think, though, to be really clear, I think that the Cabinet is working together really well. I think we’re very close.
“We’ve known each other for quite some time, and there is nothing like being in opposition for 14 years and having a right side seat to what is being done to your community to bring you together.
“So I’d say we’re more of the singing birds.”
Still, the Culture Secretary admitted she has become “frustrated by the noise” by those briefing against each other and leaking information.
Labour’s top dogs have once again found themselves in the middle of a briefing war against one another
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PA
She added: “I would say leak, but actually, most of what I read in the papers bears no relation to the sort of conversations that we have behind closed doors, not just what we say, but the tone of what we say.
“I’m frustrated by those people, and I just wish they’d stop it.”
Sir Keir was urged to sack Mr Streeting after ministers lamented the Health Secretary becoming increasingly brazen in the media and accused the MP of exhibiting personal ambitions.
When questioned on Labour’s 13th climbdown over a mandatory digital ID last week, the Cabinet minister said: “This excuses culture does the centre-left no favours.
“If we tell the public that we can’t make anything work, then why on earth would they vote to keep us in charge?”
He added his New Year’s resolution was for his Government “to get things right the first time” in a thinly-veiled dig at Sir Keir’s long line of U-turns since moving into No10.
GB News’ Political Correspondent Olivia Utley claimed the bid could risk Sir Keir appearing weaker than Kemi Badenoch, who was willing to expel her former leadership rival and Shadow Justice Secretary from the Tories altogether which she later described as “spring cleaning”.
Mrs Badenoch has been hailed as a “strong and decisive” leader by her Shadow Cabinet colleagues after firing the ex-Tory Minister catapulting him to the backbenches over his plot to join Reform UK.
The Tory leader hailed Thursday as a “good day” for her party, adding Mr Jenrick had now become “Nigel Farage’s problem”.
However, Sir Keir is yet to perform such a brutal – and public – dressing-down of Mr Streeting.
