Andy Burnham joins the Starmer pile on with contemporary calls for after PM ‘lurched left to save lots of his job’- whereas Ed Miliband celebrates new give attention to ‘class divide’

Keir Starmer has bowed to party demands to take Labour further to the left, a senior minister suggested today – as rival Andy Burnham presented the PM with his own alternative manifesto for power.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband hinted this morning that the premier has agreed to a lurch to the Left to save his skin, saying he would be focusing on the ‘class divide’. 

He spoke before the ambitious Greater Manchester mayor, personally blocked from making a return to Westminster by the Prime Minister last month to stifle a leadership challenge, gave Sir Keir his backing to stay in No10.

He also urged greater party unity, but in a very thinly veiled attack Mr Burnham accused politicians in London of getting ‘too close to wealth’ and being ‘seduced’ by free market economic solutions to social problems.

Among changes he suggested were a commitment to build 500,000 council and social homes by the end of the decade, and give councils the power to compulsorily purchase substandard homes from private landlords.

He also used his speech at a think tank conference to lament how privatisation of utilities had taken power away from the poor. 

He is the latest top Labour figure to suggest the party is to alter alter tack as Sir Keir faces clarion calls to step down amid a major row over former US ambassador Peter Mandelson and his friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. 

MPs have been heaping pressure on the PM to ramp up tax yet again to splurge more on public services and benefits.  

In other twists and turns today:

• Labour’s Welsh First Minister Baroness Morgan gave lukewarm backing to the PM, saying she supports him ‘in the job he was elected to do’;
• Scotland Yard has warned other ministers not to follow Mr Streeting in releasing their WhatsApps to Mandelson; 
• Kemi Badenoch claimed ‘some’ Labour MPs had ‘given us indications’ that they would back a vote of no confidence in the PM.

Sir Keir gathered ministers for a Cabinet meeting today thanking them for their support despite more than 24 hours of deathly silence in the wake of his chief aide’s resignation over the Mandelson scandal.

They only finally rallied round after Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar demanded he quit – with questions swirling about what concessions and deals Sir Keir might have made for his survival.

The PM insisted they were ‘strong and united’.  But among those present was Wes Streeting, who has been accused by No10 insiders of plotting a coup, something he denies.

Health Secretary Mr Streeting also released a tranche of messages with Mandelson yesterday that showed he condemned his government’s ‘no growth’ strategy – but Sir Keir appears too weak to sack him. 

Addressing the Resolution Foundation’s Unsung Britain conference, Mr Burnham said: “Following recent events, I think the time has come to call an end to this era in British politics when politicians got too close to wealth, too seduced by the notion that deregulated markets would provide the solution when in fact they have been the problem for those on the lowest incomes.’

Outlining his effort to nationalise the bus service in Manchester he added: ‘I would say that in recent decades Westminster politicians have not been prepared to do these hard things. 

‘But if we are serious about solving the simultaneous housing and cost of living crises then they will need to be so.

‘Our aim as a country should be very explicit: lower rents, lower water bills, lower energy bills, lower rail fares, lower bus fares.’

Many in Labour still believe the PM is doomed, with the government having been forced to commit to releasing far more damaging internal messages with Mandelson.

He is facing losing his Cabinet Secretary Chris Wormald in the coming days, after the departure of right-hand man Morgan McSweeney and communications chief Tim Allan.

The party is fighting to hang on in the by-election for Gorton & Denton – a traditionally safe seat – on February 26.

And local elections in May are widely expected to be a bloodbath, with the looming catastrophe in Scotland thought to have sparked Mr Sarwar’s dramatic assassination bid.

Nevertheless Sir Keir told the Cabinet: ‘The whole of the Labour Party wants Anas Sarwar to become First Minister and will fight for a Labour government in Scotland.’

Angela Rayner is regarded as on manoeuvres for the leadership, but backed the PM to continue yesterday. She has still not resolved issues with HMRC over the unpaid stamp duty bill that forced her resignation as Deputy PM last September. 

Unlike yesterday, Downing Street managed to persuade a Cabinet minister to make the government’s case in broadcast studios this morning.

In a damning assessment of Sir Keir’s first 18 months in power, Mr Miliband said this crisis ‘has got to be a moment of change’ and the government needs a ‘much greater clarity of purpose’. 

But the Net Zero Secretary urged MPs to ‘moveon.org’, telling BBC Breakfast: ‘The Labour Party as a whole looked over the precipice and thought the right thing to do is to support our leader’.

He said: ‘In a sense, yesterday was a moment of peril for the Prime Minister. I make no bones about that.

‘But, as a collective body, the Cabinet, the Labour Party looked at the alternatives of going down this road of a chaotic leadership election, trying to depose a prime minister, and they said ‘no, that’s not for us’.’

In a signal that Sir Keir has bowed to MPs demanding a more left-wing policy platform, Mr Miliband told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I tell you what angers Keir the most – it’s class. It’s the class divides… 

‘He exists to change that… I absolutely dispute the idea he’s not 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.’ 

Mr Miliband said the idea that meant ‘class war’ was ‘balderdash’.

‘So many people from working class backgrounds are looked down upon in our country, are held back in our country,’ he said. 

‘Whether it’s from not getting an apprenticeship, not being able to rise up… Keir is about changing that. Not just social mobility for a few, but recognition for everybody, a decent life for everybody.’

Mr Miliband said voters want ‘boldness in our answers’ that ‘meet the scale of what we are facing’.

‘One of the big frustrations… Rachel has raised taxes on the wealthy and business – some people don’t like that – in order that we can invest in the future, in public services – including energy in health, in education,’ he said.

Mr Miliband said he was ‘not going to run’ for the Labour leadership in any potential contest.

It was put to him that his message sounded a bit like a leadership pitch, to which he replied: ‘Absolute baloney.’

Asked whether he would rule out running, the Energy Secretary told Sky News: ‘I’m not running for the leadership, no.’

Asked whether he would rule out running rather than saying he was not currently running, he said: ‘Yes, yes, I’m not going to run.’

A weary Sir Keir was seen heading back to his No10 bunker in a government car last night after the chaotic day. 

Mr Sarwar, once an ally of Sir Keir, said there had been ‘too many mistakes’ in Downing Street.

‘I have to be honest about failure wherever I see it,’ he said. ‘The distraction has to end, the leadership has to change.’

Mr Sarwar told the PM of his move in advance, triggering panic in No10 and sparking a major rescue operation.

One Labour source said ministers were told to voice their support for the PM by the end of the day or face the sack.

Downing Street insiders accused Mr Streeting of being in league with Mr Sarwar, in a plot likened to the 2009 attempt to oust Gordon Brown.

That saw James Purnell quit Cabinet but the heir apparent David Miliband not follow suit, largely because Mandelson marshalled ministers behind Mr Brown. 

Mr Streeting’s spokesman told the Times: ‘Wes did not ask Anas to do this, he did not co-ordinate 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.

‘At the same time as Wes was in an interview saying that Keir needed a chance to set out his case and his plan, No 10 were briefing that Wes had told Anas Sarwar to make his statement. This is the problem.’

Sir Keir was already reeling from the departure of Mr McSweeney on Sunday, who was followed out of the door by the No10 communications director yesterday morning.

Cabinet Secretary Sir Chris is on the brink of joining the Downing Street exodus – just a year after Sir Keir appointed him.

Private discussions were held about the possibility of replacing Sir Keir with an interim leader such as Defence Secretary John Healey.

But, with leadership rivals not ready to make their move and financial markets wobbling over the prospect of a chaotic contest, they finally bowed to No 10’s demands to issue public statements of support.

In a belated flurry of posts on social media, which began as Mr Sarwar got to his feet, every member of the Cabinet gave the Prime Minister their broad support.

And in a defiant address to Labour MPs later, Sir Keir vowed to battle on, saying: ‘Every fight I’ve ever been in, I have won.’