Is Starmer's team watching Traitors? This Labour leadership plot is costing the UK dearly, writes Natasha Clark

It began with briefings from some in Downing Street yesterday, which warned they feared the PM could face a challenge as soon as after the Budget, in a few weeks' time.

They pointed the finger at Wes Streeting and others for possible plots to try and oust him.

That prompted an evening and a morning of feverish discussion in Whitehall - is there a plot? Will MPs move? Does the prime minister fear for his position?

It's all too much like a plot from the Traitors, as Mr Streeting himself told LBC this morning.

Let's take a step back.

It's fair to say that the discussions around the prime minister's leadership, and whether he will make it to the next election, have significantly stepped up in recent weeks.

The mood in the Parliamentary Labour Party is described as being "feral" and "deeply unhappy".

Polls are dire, for this point in an electoral cycle, despite the prime minister winning a huge majority just last year.

It's about to be a very difficult Budget, painful in fact, for millions of people, and the Government will be on high alert.

As one source said to me last week: "Could this Budget be the beginning of the end for the Chancellor, the prime minister, the government?"

We already have a precariously positioned Chancellor, whose movements and reactions move markets.

In light of this, you can sort of see why some in Downing Street felt that rather than wait for an inevitable open discussion about the PM's leadership to arise after the Budget, they felt that it could be a good way to flush it out now.

Strike first, move the conversation into the light, and kill it.

After all, the way that the Labour party responded to Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham's murmurings at the party conference, was to rally around the PM, and snuff out any talk of such a challenge.

He was seen as disloyal, opportunistic and as a result, really upset colleagues.

By contrast, the Government rallied around the PM.

Were they hoping a public show of support from Cabinet colleagues, Labour MPs today at PMQs, and a sigh of relief in Downing Street?

That feels hopeful, this morning, if not deluded.

The reaction that this briefing has prompted, has been a mix of intense frustration, disbelief, and deep despair.

My inbox is a mix of emoji, ranging from face palms to exploding heads.

The feeling is that bringing these private and premature chats into the ocean gives it the energy and oxygen has the potential to be a total explosion within the Labour party, and government.

One source says the mood in the party today is this was an "unhinged" briefing.

Sources in government tell me this was not sanctioned and "deeply stupid".

One minister says it "looks like an attempt to get ahead of the budget" but "they aren't very good at this".

It's clear that this has the potential to totally backfire today.

Is this situation making Sir Keir Starmer look safer today, or weaker?

At the moment, it seems to be the latter.

Where does this go next?

Team Wes are furious, that much is clear from his morning round.

After all, there is a clear difference between someone who would love the top job in future, to someone openly plotting to bring down the prime minister.

His team on the record deny this is the case.

At the very least we are now about to see a huge rift developing at the very heart of government.

How the prime minister, his team, his MPs, and indeed the Health Secretary respond in the coming hours and days, will be crucial.