Calls for No 10 shake-up to end rows over freebies and fallouts

Cabinet ministers are demanding a rapid shake-up of Keir Starmer's Downing Street operation, which they say has failed to spot obvious political banana skins, indulged post-election infighting and been unable to promote a sufficiently positive story of Labour's mission in government.

- Toby Helm

Some senior figures in Starmer's team want the prime minister to bring in Jonathan Ashworth, the former frontbencher who was a regular and, many believe, effective media performer during the general election campaign, to beef up the team and give it a sharper political edge.

In one of the shocks of election night, Ashworth was narrowly defeated in Leicester South by Shockat Adam, a pro-Palestinian independent candidate. The ex-MP now heads the Starmerite thinktank Labour Together.

Former colleagues believe he is wasted there and that Starmer should install him at the heart of his operation.

The calls are likely to intensify after last week's shock announcement by Rosie Duffield, the MP for Canterbury, that she was resigning the Labour whip and would sit as an independent.

Duffield told the prime minister she was quitting because of "cruel and unnecessary" government policies such as cuts in the winter fuel allowance and the two-child benefit cap.