A former minister has declared that Sir Keir Starmer should step down as Labour leader rather than contest a potential leadership battle. Jess Phillips, who resigned as safeguarding minister on Monday with a critical statement directed at the Prime Minister, indicated that Starmer ought to refrain from participating in any contest that is expected to involve prominent Labour figures such as Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting.
Ms Phillips is backing Mr Streeting, who confirmed on Tuesday that he would stand in any leadership election scheduled for the summer. Analysts suggest that Streeting would likely lose if he faces off against Andy Burnham. However, if Sir Keir were absent from the ballot, many of the Prime Minister's remaining loyalists might rally behind Streeting, bolstering his support.
During an interview with the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg, Ms Phillips expressed her belief that a leadership race is necessary. When asked directly whether Sir Keir Starmer should stand, she responded unequivocally: 'In my opinion, no.' She went on to commend Wes Streeting's 'bravery and boldness' in government, contrasting it with what she described as the 'timid' approach of the current Prime Minister.
Ms Phillips elaborated on her support for Streeting: 'He once said to me that the process of me writing the Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy felt a little bit like me hanging him upside down by his ankles and shaking out his pockets, but the reality is, he stepped up and he got the right people to do the right thing. So there's one example of where I found him very forthcoming. Now, the Prime Minister does definitely care about violence against women and girls, don't get me wrong, but what I see from Wes is bravery and boldness.'
However, Ms Phillips was critical of Sir Keir Starmer's approach to holding tech companies accountable for children's online safety, describing it as 'timid'. She told the BBC: 'Timid is the best way that I can describe his approach. I don't think people understand exactly what I am talking about, necessarily, in my resignation letter, what I am talking about is stopping 91% of child sexual abuse online. The ability for children to take naked images of themselves and do live streaming of their own sexual abuses is something that I had to try and stop.'
Ms Phillips expressed frustration with the process of pushing for legislation to force tech companies to crack down on child sexual abuse images. She added: 'That level of timidity on something that could stop child abuse, for example… I don't think that the Prime Minister, for one second, doesn't want to stop that child abuse, of course he does. But the willingness to have an argument on this in this instance with tech companies just wasn't there.'
