MPs from Labour's left are expected to urge Ed Miliband to consider a leadership bid in the coming days, as Keir Starmer faces the prospect of a definite challenge from his MPs next week. Following grim results for Labour in local elections on Thursday, former minister Catherine West said that if no cabinet ministers go public by Monday, she would launch a bid to end the impasse.
A series of Labour backbenchers called on Saturday for Starmer to set a timetable for his departure from Downing Street. The prime minister has reiterated his determination to stay on, saying on Saturday that a change of leadership would “plunge the country into chaos”. A number of Labour MPs from across the party support Andy Burnham replacing Starmer, but the Greater Manchester mayor requires a time-consuming and uncertain byelection to re-enter parliament.
There has been speculation that Wes Streeting might be considering a move next week, although the health secretary’s allies have vehemently denied this. With any route for Burnham back to the Commons still unclear, dozens of backbenchers from the party’s left are now preparing to turn to Miliband. The group is expected to urge the energy secretary to step in and prevent a Streeting coronation, believing that Angela Rayner does not have the necessary support.
West, a north London MP who Starmer sacked as a Foreign Office minister last year, told the BBC that in the event of no other challengers, she would ask colleagues on Monday to back her as a way of starting a contest. She said she had the support of 10 MPs so far, well below the required 81 to endorse any challenger. “My preferred option is for the cabinet to do a reshuffle within itself, where there’s plenty of talent, and for Keir to be given a different role,” West said.
Labour lost more than 1,400 councillors across England on Thursday, shedding support to Reform UK and the Greens. In Wales, the party lost power for the first time, plummeting to just nine Senedd seats. Starmer, due to make a speech on Monday about closer European links, began a fightback on Saturday with two new appointments: Gordon Brown as envoy on global finance and Harriet Harman as adviser on women and girls. Speaking in south London, Starmer said: “I’m not going to walk away from this. That would plunge the country into chaos.”
