A Conservative Party spokesman said: “At PMQs the Prime Minister showed he was in office, but not in power.

“He allegedly had no idea who was briefing against Cabinet Ministers on his behalf and failed to give his full confidence to his Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney. Keir Starmer is so weak he’s not even in control of his own Downing Street operation.

“If the Prime Minister doesn’t have the backbone to control his team, how the hell is he supposed to run the country – the same country where unemployment is up, borrowing is up, taxes are set to rise further and debt is spiralling out of control.”

Prime Minister’s questions has finished for today. We will bring you any reaction as we get it.

Sir Keir Starmer was asked by Labour MP Gill German to join her for a walk on a newly-completed promenade in Rhyl in her constituency of Clwyd North.

The Prime Minister answered: “That’s a very appealing invitation just at the moment”.

Former Reform MP Rupert Lowe has called for a referendum on bringing back the death penalty because “every week we hear of a brutal murder, rape or stabbing”.

Sir Keir Starmer immediately shut this down by saying it is “not the answer”.

Rebecca Paul, a Tory MP, told the Commons: “I would like to ask the Prime Minister for his help. It’s been over six months since the Supreme Court ruling on the meaning of sex but public institutions are still knowingly and intentionally breaching the law.

“HMP Downview, a women’s prison in Banstead, has five biological males in it and if that wasn’t bad enough those males are mixing with the women in the daytime without adequate supervision. Will the Prime Minister ensure biological males are moved out of women’s prisons immediately?”

Sir Keir Starmer replied: “The Supreme Court ruling must be implemented in full, and at all levels. She’s absolutely right about that.

“She’s raised these examples with me. I will make sure they’re looked into and make sure she gets a proper reply in relation to the particular examples.”

Kemi Badenoch has accused the Prime Minister of having lost control of Number 10, following briefings against the Health Secretary.

Speaking at PMQs, she said: “He says these attacks aren’t authorised.

“That means he’s lost control of Number 10, because that’s where they’re coming from.

“The real scandal is that two weeks from a budget, the Government has descended into a civil war, instead of fixing the economy the mess they’ve made of the economy.

“The Prime Minister’s advisors have been reduced to briefing that MPs can’t get rid of him, and I’m not making this up, because it would destabilise international markets.”

Sir Keir Starmer was met with laughter from the opposition benches when he insisted that the Government was a “united team”.

He added: “The Bank of England has upgraded growth today, we’ve secured £230 billion of private investment.”

The Speaker of the House was forced to intervene, telling MPs that if they wish to audition for a pantomime, they should “go to the Old Vic”.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has urged Sir Keir Starmer to tell Donald Trump to drop his demand for a billion dollars from the BBC in the wake of a Telegraph investigation into bias at the corporation.

Sir Keir should also guarantee that Mr Trump does not get a “single penny” of licence fee money from taxpayers, Sir Ed said.

The Prime Minister said: “Let me be clear. I believe in a strong and independent BBC. Some would rather the BBC didn’t exist. Some of them are sitting up there. I’m not one of them. In an age of disinformation the argument for an impartial British news service is stronger than ever.

“And where mistakes are made they do need to get their house in order and the BBC must uphold the highest standards, be accountable and correct errors quickly. But I will always stand up for a strong, independent BBC.”

Nigel Farage has asled whether Sir Keir will “grip” asylum hotels. He said one Reform-led council will issue foreclosure notices on three migrant hotels over concerns for safety of women and girls.

Sir Keir called the Reform leader “spineless” for not answering a previous question put to him by the PM and also said the Government is determined to close hotels.

Kemi Badenoch told Sir Keir Starmer: “It’s last year’s tax rises that have killed jobs and that’s what’s going to trigger this year’s tax rises. This is the tax doom loop and there is only one way out of it and that is to cut spending.

“So why is the Prime Minister instead offering welfare giveaways to save his own skin?”

Sir Keir said: “I’ll tell the Right Honourable lady why we increased National Insurance, it’s because of the mess that they left the country in, an NHS on its knees.

“Now we’ve got five million extra appointments, waiting lists down … as a result of our decisions.”

Conservative MP Lincoln Jopp has suggested Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer approaches him, if he wants “ideas” about how to “survive a bloody and violent attempted coup”.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, the former army officer and MP for Spelthorne referred to Remembrance Day earlier this week and told the Commons: “I particularly remember in 1997 in West Africa, where I somehow managed to survive a bloody and violent attempted coup – so if the Prime Minister wants any ideas about how to do that, he only has to ask.”

Sir Keir laughed as Mr Jopp continued: “Prime Minister’s Questions last week was an absolute binfire, so if the Prime Minister is indeed intent on promoting the United Kingdom on the world stage, please can he promise the House that he will never ever ever be away on a Wednesday ever again?”

The Prime Minister replied: “It’s always great to hear from the successor for (former chancellor) Kwasi Kwarteng’s constituency.

“I’m very proud to represent our country on the world stage, last week in Cop (Conference of the Parties), before that in Nato, and it’s because of the reputation we’ve rebuilt over the last 15-16 months that other countries now want to do trade deals with us and want to place their orders with us.”

Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy stood in for Sir Keir last week.

Sir Keir Starmer said “any attack on any member of my Cabinet is completely unacceptable” amid briefings against Health Secretary Wes Streeting.

He said: “My focus each and every day is on rebuilding and renewing our country. But let me be absolutely clear, any attack on any member of my cabinet is completely unacceptable.”

Sir Keir said Mr Streeting had out-performed expectations by delivering five million extra appointments within the first year of a Labour government, higher than the two million pledged.

“He’s doing a great job, as is the whole of my Cabinet,” Sir Keir said.

Keir Starmer said he has never authorised attacks on his cabinet members when quizzed on whether he has confidence in his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney. He stops short of saying he has full confidence in him.

The Tory leader has asked whether there is a “toxic culture” in Downing Street amid speculation of a leadership coup by Wes Streeting.

Sir Keir Starmer welcomed 100-year-old D-Day veteran Mervyn Kersh who is watching Prime Minister’s Questions from the public gallery.

The Prime Minister said: “I’m lucky to have met him twice, and I know that it took him many, many years before he felt he could even begin to tell his story and we thank him for his service and the story he has told us in respect of it.”

Sir Keir added that the Government gave its “eternal thanks” to all veterans as it marked Armistice Day. He also paid tribute to Manfred Goldberg, the late Holocaust survivor.

The Prime Minister has started PMQs in the Commons.

Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch will clash in the Commons in less than five minutes.

With Streeting forced to deny a plot to oust Starmer as PM, who do you think will be a better leader?

Vote in our poll here.

Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper said stories emerging around No 10 were “incredibly damaging” to the markets ahead of the Budget.

“I think that Wes Streeting should be focused on sorting out the crisis in the NHS, not the crisis in No 10.

“If No 10 has realised that the country is frustrated and they’ve internalised that as a party, that is a good thing because it gives us hope they might start to turn things around.

“But on the other hand, we are just two weeks away from the Budget.

“These kind of stories are incredibly damaging for the markets and for investors, both domestic and international and as a country we don’t want that … to be so destabilising.”

Britain needs to show it is “open for business” she told reporters after a speech at a pub in London on Lib Dem budget proposals.

The Health Secretary wanted to talk about plans to improve the NHS today.

Wes Streeting said the briefings had “vindicated” calls from Labour’s new deputy leader Lucy Powell for a change in “culture” in Downing Street.

He told Sky News: “I do think that going out and calling your Labour MPs feral is not very helpful.

“I do think that trying to kneecap one of your own team when they are out, not just making the case for the Government, but actually delivering the change that we promised, I think that is also self-defeating and self-destructive behaviour.”

UK Government borrowing costs ticked higher on Wednesday morning, as the price of gilts – UK Government bonds – slipped in value amid speculation over a leadership challenge to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

It’s a sign of how fragile the UK’s economic situation is, thanks to our high debt levels. But it also perhaps confirms one of the arguments made by Sir Keir’s supporters, who are saying that a leadership challenge would hurt the public finances.

Yields on 10-year-gilts, which move counter to the price of the bonds, rose by 3 basis points to 4.42% in early trading. The yield on the longer-term 30-year-gilt also rose by a similar amount.

The rise come after yields had dropped significantly on Tuesday after rising unemployment and falling wage growth prompted predictions of interest rate cuts.

Asked if Sir Keir Starmer had lost control of his No 10 operation, Mr Streeting said: “I wouldn’t put it like that, I would say there are some people in Downing Street who evidently do not model the behaviours and style of leadership that the Prime Minister models.”

Health Wes Streeting dismissed the “silly” and “juvenile” behind-the-scenes briefings against him from No 10.

The Health Secretary told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “What I’d say to the silly No 10 briefer is that every time they put these sorts of things out, whether it’s about me or anyone else, to be honest, it distracts from telling what I think is a positive story for Labour to tell.

“It stops us getting a Labour argument across, and that’s why it’s not just juvenile, it’s self-defeating.”

Asked if he knew who was responsible he said: “No. If I did, I would tell the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister would sack them.”

The chairwoman of the Red Wall group of Labour MPs said “this is neither the time or the place” for briefing about a leadership challenge.

Bassetlaw MP Jo White told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “Our enemies love nothing more than when we start fighting like dogs in public, and my message to those MPs who are running around with their tails held high: That this is neither the time or the place.

“This is a group of people who think they’re much cleverer than the rest of us, who spend their time selectively briefing journalists and stirring the pot. I want to simply say: We’re not having it.

“I’m not aware of a single person in the red wall group who’s involved in this. And if anyone, including Wes Streeting, wants to make a move, they would have to speak to us. He’s a London MP and it hasn’t happened and it’s not true.”

Ms White added: “I’d like to say to No 10, I think they’re barking up the wrong tree, briefing against Wes.

“I’ve known Wes since he was NUS president. He’s one of the tiny handful of MPs who came up to Bassetlaw to help me with my election.

“He’s only just recently written a really kind letter to one of my members who lost her husband. And I think I’d know – he’d tell me if he was manoeuvring.”

Wes Streeting says briefings about the Prime Minister are “ridiculous” that he is “not fighting for his job this morning”.

He said: “This is daft to be honest. Someone in Downing Street has been watching too much celebrity Traitors. This is about the most appalling attack on a faithful since the final banishing.”

Ben Obese-Jecty MP said: “Just because Keir Starmer is paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not after him.

“But with a potentially disastrous Budget only two weeks away, No.10 is busier briefing against its own Cabinet than dealing with their own disastrous handling of the economy.

“These aren’t serious people.”

The papers are full of speculation of the others on maneuvers beyond Streeting.

Climate Secretary Ed Miliband has been wooing senior MPs beyond his normal circles in the Commons’ members dining room.

Defence Secretary John Healey is another name that has been mentioned in conversations between MPs, while Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood remains the darling of plenty of MPs on the right wing of the party.

Briefing about a Labour leadership challenge is “self-defeating” and “doesn’t help anyone”, Wes Streeting said as he denied plotting to oust the Prime Minister.

Keir Starmer is bracing for a spiky PMQs with rumours swirling of a potential leadfership fight.

The Prime Minister’s No 10 allies have launched a campaign to save his job amid fears he could be forced out after the tax-raising Budget or election defeats next May.

Read the full story here