PLOTS to oust Sir Keir Starmer are “deeply mortifying” and “horrifyingly embarrassing” for Labour, the Home Secretary admitted today.
Shabana Mahmood insisted the PM is going nowhere as grumbling among Labour backbenchers swelled.
Downing Street has been left pleading with MPs and aides to stop whingeing about their leader and speculating over would‑be successors.
Over the weekend disgraced ex-Deputy PM Angela Rayner was forced to deny she is on manoeuvres to topple Sir Keir.
Ms Mahmood was also accused of harbouring her own ambitions for the job.
But pouring cold water on talk of an ousting, she told Sky News: “Keir Starmer is our Prime Minister.
“We won an election just under a year and a half or so ago, when people thought that we would not win an election for maybe a generation or more.
“I have no time for these things that people say or brief off the record or any of this, frankly, Westminster bubble tittle-tattle.”
The Home Secretary added: “If people have things to say, they should have the courage of their convictions and say so publicly, and that is not what is happening.”
A bitter civil war erupted in Labour last week after Health Secretary Wes Streeting was anonymously accused of mounting a secret operation to get rid of the PM.
The briefing led Mr Streeting to hold what has been described as a “very shouty” call with Sir Keir’s top aide, Morgan McSweeney.
The Health Secretary demanded to know if Downing Street was behind the accusation of a leadership plot – something Mr McSweeney denied.
Despite formerly being close, the pair’s relationship has now soured and the Labour stalwarts rarely speak.
On Sunday firebrand Ms Rayner denied that she’s been secretly offering out cabinet positions to any MP pledging her loyalty.
A source close to the ex-Housing Secretary described claims of a leadership bid as “total rubbish and obviously false”.
They added: “Amidst all the stirring and silly games, Angela is focused on representing her local community and ensuring that the priorities she championed in Government are delivered in full.”
On a visit in her Ashton-under-Lyne constituency, Ms Rayner went on to describe Labour in-fighting as “arrogant tittle tattle”.
But hinting at a comeback to frontline politics, she went on to say: “I’m really humbled and I always have been, the people of Ashton-under-Lyne have always supported me.
“I’ve got a lot of interests like child poverty, the fair pay agreement, and making sure the Employment Rights Bill is carried out in full.”
Meanwhile, Tory Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp accused Sir Keir’s party of “fighting like rats in a sack”.
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He claimed the Conservatives, with a record of five leaders during 14 years in power, have moved on from their divisions.
The Shadow Home Secretary said: “Instead of serving the national interest, the Labour Government are fighting each other just weeks away from a budget that will unleash enormous tax rises on this country that will drive up unemployment even further.”