The PM says "this is a united team and we are delivering together".

"Look what we're doing," he continues, mentioning "the fastest growth in the G7" and five cuts to interest rates.

There are loud jeers in response, and the volume in the Commons rises.

The speaker steps in, joking that if anyone wants to be in a pantomime, they should go to the Old Vic theatre.

Starmer adds that Labour is "fixing the mess that they [the Conservatives] left".

• For context: Latest projections from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) show the UK is expected to be the second-fastest-growing economy of the world's most advanced economies in the world this year

Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons

Tory MPs are loving this. Broad grins all round and uproar as Keir Starmer claims his government is united.

Image source, UK Parliament/PA

Badenoch says she didn't hear full support for McSweeney.

"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."

Starmer says that his chief of staff, his Number 10 team, and he himself are "absolutely focused on delivering for the country".

Starmer otherwise seems to skirt the question, saying waiting lists are down and that Streeting is getting on with his job and doing well.

Badenoch says we heard the health secretary say he wants to cut waiting lists – but we all know there is only one waiting list he wants to cut, to laughter in the Commons.

She says his allies have been accusing cabinet members of launching leadership challenges.

The person in charge of the culture in Downing Street is Morgan McSweeney, she says. Does the PM have confidence in him?

Starmer says he has never authorised negative briefings on his colleagues.

"Of course I've never authorised attacks on cabinet members," Starmer says. "I appointed them to their posts because they're the best people to carry out their jobs."

NHS waiting lists are down, he adds, and GP numbers are up. The health secretary is doing a good job, he adds.

Starmer responds by saying that any attack on a member of his cabinet is "completely unacceptable".

He says the his government promised to deliver two million extra healthcare appointments in its first year - and has delivered five.

He adds that the health secretary is in Manchester today to announce more front-line healthcare workers.

Image source, UK Parliament/PA

Time for the first question from Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch.

She begins by saying that this morning, the health secretary was on the BBC saying "there is a toxic culture in Downing Street that needs to change".

"He's right, isn't he?" she asks Starmer.

• For context: Streeting was responding to reports of an alleged attempt to replace the prime minister. He’s denied the claims and urged Starmer to sack whoever is briefing the media, describing the reports as “the worst attack on a faithful since Joe Marler was banished in The Traitors final”

Brian Wheeler
Reporting from the House of Commons

Cheers from the Labour benches as Keir Starmer takes his seat for PMQs. No sign of Wes Streeting though, who is in Manchester for a speech on the NHS later.

Science Secretary Liz Kendall - a one-time Labour leadership contender - was just asked by her Tory opposite number if she was "Team Wes" or "Team Keir".

"I am on team UK," declared Kendall to cheers from the Labour benches.

I suspect this is going to be a noisy session.

Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch are in the Commons, and PMQs is getting started.

We'll bring you text updates of the pair's back and forth, which you can also watch live by pressing the button at the top of the page.

Our political colleagues will bring you analysis too, so stick with us.

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

A very senior Labour figure tells me "the mood in the PLP (Parliamentary Labour Party) is very bad" and the briefing from the No 10 source was "handled in a very bad way".

They describe the mood as one of “anxiety and worry” ahead of the Budget and because of Labour's position in the polls.

But they also suggest that there was "no imminent threat" and "no actual plan" to replace Starmer. They suggest there had been an attempt to "smoke out leadership rivals" and say that "people need to be held accountable for this".

"It's unhinged", is the view of a usually loyal MP when he heard that some in No 10 were suggesting there could be leadership challenge soon.

"If there was going to be an imminent coup I would have known about it. It’s made up."

“The focus for the next few weeks should have been pulling together around a really important budget," he says.

There was widespread "bafflement" in the PLP at the tactics, he suggests.

Iain Watson
Political correspondent

It would seem that No 10 is not speaking with one voice.

I have been told that the strategy of the PM's director of communications was to have one big intervention by a cabinet minister each week up until the Budget.

Rachel Reeves herself last week, Shabana Mahmood is expected to make an intervention on immigration soon, but the big event this week was meant to be Wes Streeting's speech on the NHS and the savings from the re-organisation.

Instead, because of a briefing assumed to be from elsewhere in No 10, he was being asked about the Labour leadership and possible divisions in the party – which one government insider told me was "bonkers".

This round of PMQs comes after two BBC bosses resigned over the weekend.

Director general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness resigned following a leaked memo from the corporation's former ethics adviser, that listed several "troubling matters" with BBC output.

These included a Panorama edit of a speech from Donald Trump, for which the US president has now threatened to sue the BBC for $1bn (£760m).

While Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has criticised the BBC in light of the matter, Lib Dems leader Ed Davey has described the resignations as an opportunity for positive change.

Despite her resignation, Turness maintains that the BBC is not institutionally biased.

Davie, following his resignation, encouraged the corporation to "fight for our journalism".

Since then, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has said the BBC must fight to restore trust whilst also defending the corporation as a "national institution".

You can read more on the story here.

Image source, PA Media

We've just seen Prime Minister Keir Starmer walking out of No 10 Downing Street.

He's heading to the House of Commons for Prime Minister's Questions, which will get under way shortly.

We'll be bringing you the key lines, and you can follow along by clicking Watch live above.

Image source, PA Media

Away from Labour infighting, it's been a busy week for Justice Secretary and Deputy PM David Lammy, who this time last Wednesday was gearing up to cover for Keir Starmer at PMQs.

He faced repeated questions from the Conservatives' James Cartlidge on whether any asylum seekers had been mistakenly released from prison since Hadush Kebatu last month.

Lammy did not directly answer, but at the end of PMQs news broke of a prisoner who had been released in error from HMP Wandsworth. Hours later it emerged a second Wandsworth inmate, Billy Smith, was being sought by Surrey Police after being released in another separate error.

Smith handed himself in to police on Thursday, but it would take the Met Police until Friday to track down 24-year-old Algerian Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, who was caught in the Finsbury Park area of London, after a tip-off from a member of the public.

Yesterday afternoon, the latest government figures showed 91 prisoners were freed by mistake between April and October this year.

Lammy told MPs the figures were "symptomatic of a prison system under a horrendous strain", saying the Labour government had inherited a "crisis" from the Conservatives. Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick branded the releases dangerous.

In saying the PM is prepared to "fight" any leadership challenge, Downing Street sources have "manufactured a potential crisis" from what was previously just "Westminster tittle tattle", says Keir Starmer's former political director Luke Sullivan.

“Whoever in Downing Street last night thought this was a good idea, it has completely rebounded," he tells the BBC's Nicky Campbell on Radio 5 Live.

• As a reminder: On Tuesday evening, allies of the prime minister said he was prepared to "fight" any leadership challenge and that they were suspicious of Wes Streeting's leadership ambitions - something the health secretary has denied.

As we've been reporting, there are fears among Starmer's team that his job might be under immediate threat.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting is seen by some as a potential candidate to displace the PM. His ambition is rousing particular suspicion from some loyal to Starmer.

This morning, the health secretary called the rumours "categorically untrue".

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Streeting says: "I’m not challenging the prime minister, I’m not standing against him, I'm not doing any of the things that some silly briefing has said overnight."

Asked if he would ever consider making such a move, he replied: "I cannot see circumstances under which I would do that to our prime minister."

He calls the briefing "extremely unhelpful", and says the PM should sack the aide responsible for it.

Dismissing the rumours of a coup within Labour as fanciful, Streeting adds: "Whoever’s been briefing this has been watching too much Celebrity Traitors. It’s the most unjustified attack against the faithful since Joe Marler was banished in the final."

Chris Mason and Henry Zeffman
Political editor and chief political correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Here's a bit more of the reporting we mentioned in our last post.

Allies of the prime minister are saying he will fight any challenge to his leadership amid fears from those loyal to Keir Starmer that his job might be under threat - perhaps as soon as shortly after the Budget in a fortnight's time.

Names being discussed by Labour MPs as potential candidates to topple Starmer include some of his closest cabinet allies, especially Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood.

A spokesman for Streeting says "these claims are categorically untrue".

Some also speculate about the ambitions of Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, and backbenchers including the former transport secretary Louise Haigh.

"He will fight this," one minister tells us, adding: "He is one of only two people alive who have won a general election for Labour. It'd be madness to run against him after 17 months."

Opinion polls suggest, external Starmer is deeply unpopular, perhaps even the most unpopular British prime minister, external in the history of modern opinion polling.

• Read more on this story

Image source, PA Media

PM Keir Starmer is preparing to face Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, and backbench MPs, at Prime Minister's Questions.

This week's session comes amid reports of potential challenges to Starmer's leadership.

The BBC's political editor Chris Mason and chief political correspondent Henry Zeffman have spoken to allies of the PM, who say they're worried about plotting going on to try to replace him. They also say Starmer would fight any challenge.

Elsewhere, pressure has been mounting on Justice Secretary David Lammy after it was revealed two men had separately been released by mistake from HMP Wandsworth in the space of one week. Both are now back in custody.

It came after migrant sex offender Hadush Kebatu, who arrived in the UK on a small boat, was mistakenly released from HMP Chelmsford last month. He's now been deported. The latest figures show 91 prisoners were freed by mistake between April and October this year.

We'll see what Starmer's asked when the session gets under way at midday. Until then, stay with us as we bring you more on the stories mentioned above - as well as other political happenings.