Starmer fighting to keep job as former minister warns he has ‘lost the country’
Sir Keir Starmer will set out a “fresh direction” as he battles to save his job in the face of a leadership challenge following Labour’s disastrous election results.
The Prime Minister, who has indicated he hopes to remain in power until 2034, has a major speech on Monday as he tries to shore up his position after the MP Catherine West declared her intention to launch a leadership bid.
Former minister Ms West intends to seek nominations on Monday but has made clear her campaign is an attempt to force the Cabinet to get behind a candidate to move against Sir Keir rather than a credible challenge to win the keys to No 10 herself.
As well as Monday’s event, the King’s Speech on Wednesday setting out the Government’s priorities will form part of an attempt by Sir Keir to reset his leadership after Labour was hammered at the ballot box.
In a further blow, former loyalist Josh Simons called for Sir Keir to quit, saying he had “lost the country”.
Despite the mounting calls for him to leave, the Prime Minister said he would not walk away from the job.
Asked if he would lead Labour at the next election, expected in 2029, and serve a full term of up to five years, he told the Sunday Mirror: “Yes I will, and I’ve always said it’s a decade of national renewal, where the legacy we inherited was an appalling legacy on all fronts, not just the economy, which was broken.”
Sir Keir has been hit by Nigel Farage’s Reform UK snatching councils, some of which had been Labour for generations, in northern England while Zack Polanski’s Green Party lured voters away from him in former urban strongholds, including taking control of some London authorities.
But Sir Keir told the Observer: “I have a strong belief that there aren’t many people who actually want Zack Polanski or Nigel Farage as prime minister.
“I think that the mainstream majority actually want to know that we, the Government, have progressive answers to the challenges that they face on a daily basis, and we need to spell out in terms and with conviction that we do have those progressive answers.”
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said people felt “bitterly let down” by Labour.
“I just do not believe that the message we should take from these elections is that we ought to spend time as a party amongst ourselves, arguing amongst ourselves, fighting amongst ourselves,” she told the BBC.
“We do need to tell a better story. We do need to deliver faster.”
She added: “The Prime Minister will set out a fresh direction for our country and for our party that will rise to the scale of what we face.”
Ms West said she would wait to hear Sir Keir’s speech on Monday before beginning the process of gathering the 81 MPs she would need to formally trigger a contest.
She told BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “I will hear what the Prime Minister’s got to say tomorrow and, then if I’m still dissatisfied, I will put out my email to the Parliamentary Labour Party, asking for names.
“And the reason I’m doing that is not for me.
“It’s for working people, because Labour is the only party that can beat Reform.”
She added: “I say to the women of the Parliamentary Labour Party, don’t just allow the men to stand.”
Former deputy leader Angela Rayner is widely viewed as a potential leadership contender, with Health Secretary Wes Streeting likely to be her main rival within the parliamentary party.
But Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham would need to fight and win a by-election to become an MP to further his own leadership ambitions, meaning his supporters are wary of a quick contest to replace Sir Keir.
In the latest sign that discontent with the Prime Minister has gone beyond the usual critics on the Labour left, former minister Mr Simons called for him to go.
The Makerfield MP wrote in the Times: “Putting the people I represent and the country I love first, I do not believe the Prime Minister can rise to this moment.
“He has lost the country.
“He should take control of the situation by overseeing an orderly transition to a new prime minister.”
John McDonnell, the former shadow chancellor under Jeremy Corbyn and a senior figure on the Labour left, urged Ms West to back down from potentially triggering a quick contest or coronation for Sir Keir’s successor.
“We need to discuss how we go forward,” he said.
“I worry some in shadows want to exploit her concerns and bounce us before we have a proper democratic process.”
Richard Burgon, secretary of the Socialist Campaign Group of MPs on the left, also warned against Ms West’s plan for a “Cabinet stitch-up” to replace Sir Keir.
“I fear there’s a real danger that, whatever her good intentions, her move will be exploited by people on the right of the party who want a coronation and not a proper democratic contest in the party,” he said.
Published: by Radio NewsHub