‘Pull yourselves together’ – Keir Starmer hits out at ‘pathetic’ situation in Downing Street

“We’re in the middle of a pandemic, we’re all worried about our health and our families, we’re all worried about our jobs, and this lot are squabbling behind the door of Number 10.

“It’s pathetic. Pull yourselves together, focus on the job in hand.”

A Labour Party spokesman said: “On the day the UK became the first country in Europe to report 50,000 coronavirus deaths and the public endured another day of lockdown, Boris Johnson’s government is fighting like rats in a sack over who gets what job.

“It is precisely this lack of focus and rank incompetence that has held Britain back. The public deserve better than this incompetence and divided Conservative government.” 

Senior Tory backbencher Sir Charles Walker, vice chairman of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think there has been unhappiness about the Number 10 operation for some time.

“Members of Parliament have felt excluded from the decision-making process, and that’s no secret.

“The real opportunity here is for the chief of staff position to be filled by someone who has good links with the Conservative Party and its representation in the House of Commons.”

But MP for Rossendale and Darwen Jake Berry insisted it was a sign the prime minister was “taking back control”.

He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “The departure of Lee Cain does show, I think, that the prime minister is taking back control of his government.

“He’s moving from a campaigning operation to an operation solely focused on good government. I think it’s a good move for the prime minister.

“As we go past that grim milestone, as you say, of 50,000 deaths from this appalling disease, it’s high time, I think, that there was a bit of a change of guard in Number 10.”