Labour rift deepens as Nandy blasts ‘misogynistic’ No 10 briefings

Labour rift deepens as Nandy blasts ‘misogynistic’ No 10 briefings

Keir Starmer is facing mounting internal unrest as senior Cabinet minister Lisa Nandy accused Downing Street of allowing briefings “dripping with misogyny” — while the Prime Minister was battered at PMQs over his handling of aides linked to paedophile scandals.

The row erupted after Culture Secretary Nandy condemned anonymous government briefings that she said targeted female MPs.

“Some of the briefings have absolutely been dripping with misogyny,” she told Times Radio. “You hear these things about, we’re lazy, we spend too much time with our kids, we don’t spend enough time with our kids — you really can’t win.”

She added: “In the end it’s designed to try to keep us down and to stop us from being heard.”

The backlash comes amid fury over the roles of former senior aides Peter Mandelson and Lord Matthew Doyle.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused Starmer of “stuffing government with hypocrites and paedophile apologists.” She pointed to Doyle, Starmer’s former communications chief, who lost the Labour whip after campaigning for a councillor later convicted of possessing indecent images of children.

Doyle has apologised for his 2017 actions but now faces calls — including from Labour Party chair Anna Turley — to lose his peerage.

Inside Labour, tensions are spilling into the open. At a meeting of female MPs, Harriet Harman urged Starmer to appoint a woman as a de facto deputy and revive the post of first secretary of state to counter what some described as a Downing Street “boys’ club.”

The Prime Minister reportedly agreed to consider the proposal.

Further changes to No 10 are said to be imminent, with speculation mounting that senior civil servant Sir

Chris Wormald could depart as Starmer reshuffles his inner circle in a bid to steady the ship.

Key Takeaways

• Lisa Nandy accuses No 10 briefings of being “dripping with misogyny.”

• Kemi Badenoch attacks Starmer over aides linked to paedophile scandals.

• Female Labour MPs push for a woman to be appointed as de facto deputy PM.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT