Labour Cabinet Turns on Starmer as Leadership Crisis Deepens
Historians may well identify this week as the definitive moment when the Labour Cabinet, parliamentary party, and broader movement collectively decided to abandon Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The unraveling began in earnest on Tuesday during a television interview that exposed the growing fractures within the government.
Public Abandonment by Senior Figures
Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary who understands better than most the contours of doomed political leadership, was being interviewed by GMB's Susanna Reid. As Reid meticulously dismantled the Prime Minister's rationale for appointing Peter Mandelson, Miliband initially attempted to adhere to the increasingly implausible official talking points. Then came the pivotal moment: Miliband paused, leaned forward, placed his hand on his chin, and conceded, "Yeah, it's a fair point. He shouldn't have been appointed. That is right."
This public dissent marked a dramatic reversal from early February, when Labour's Scottish leader Anas Sarwar first called for Starmer's resignation. At that time, ministers rallied around the Prime Minister with coordinated social media support after a week of awkward silence. Now, the wagons are not just uncircled—they are actively driving away into the distance.
Cabinet Ministers Break Ranks
The disintegration began with Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander, one of the government's most polished media performers, who on Monday shattered the cardinal rule against speculating about a Prime Minister's political survival. Alexander conceded there were "no certainties" about whether Starmer would lead Labour into the next general election.
On Tuesday morning, Miliband's televised concession was followed hours later by Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper publicly distancing herself from Starmer's attempt to secure a diplomatic posting for his former communications director Matthew Doyle, despite Doyle's connection to a convicted paedophile. Cooper emphasized she was "extremely concerned" that the Foreign Office might have been instructed to bypass her, stating the appointment "would also not have been an appropriate appointment."
Yesterday, Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden—known as the Cabinet's "fire-blanket"—conspicuously refused to endorse Starmer's decision to sack Sir Olly Robbins, offering only the cryptic comment, "I think very highly of him."
Private Criticism and Shifting Perceptions
Behind the scenes, the criticism has been even more damning. According to multiple leaks from within the Cabinet, David Lammy, Shabana Mahmood, Wes Streeting, and Rachel Reeves all delivered thinly veiled criticism of the Robbins sacking.
One Cabinet minister revealed the changing mood: "It's moving. People now recognise something is going to have to happen relatively quickly after the local elections. The discussions now are about finding a way for Keir to leave in a dignified way, and in a manner that isn't messy and splits the party."
A second minister confirmed this assessment: "Before Iran, the sense was that people would have to act after the local elections. Then Iran happened, and views shifted a bit. People started to think, 'I'm not sure how we can have a leadership contest with a war as the backdrop'. But now it's hardened up again. The feeling is basically that 'this is not going to end. Keir can't get out from under this. We need to draw a line'."
Collapsing Confidence and Failed Strategies
While public debate has focused on whether Starmer misled Parliament about Mandelson, senior government figures report a more fundamental loss of confidence. As one veteran Labour source explained: "Up until this week people thought the main issue was structures inside No10, and the fact that Keir wasn't especially political. But now the basic view is 'the guy's useless. He just can't do this'. The respect for him has just collapsed. I've now got people sending me memes of him in a dunce's cap. It's gone."
The slender hope that Starmer could use the Iran conflict to reboot his premiership has been extinguished. One minister acknowledged: "It was always a long shot that we could turn things around via international affairs. But now there's no chance. Mandelson isn't coming up on the doorstep a lot. But nor is Trump or Iran. People aren't saying 'your guy's doing a great job over the Strait of Hormuz'. They're saying 'what are you doing about all those bloody illegal immigrants?'"
The so-called "Love Actually Strategy"—referencing the film moment when Hugh Grant's fictional prime minister confronts a bullish US president—has failed to resonate. Downing Street's plan to address the Mandelson documents before local elections and relaunch around the King's Speech has been abandoned. "He's too weak now," a minister revealed. "They know that there's enough in those documents and if they came out now, it would completely sink him. So they have had to shelve it. They're not bothering with a strategy any more. They're just trying to see if they can survive a day at a time."
Two Scenarios for Removal
According to ministers, two removal scenarios are now actively under consideration. The first involves a swift, clean transition with a "caretaker leader" installed with parliamentary Labour party consent. Potential candidates include John Healey, Pat McFadden, Hilary Benn, Yvette Cooper, and Bridget Phillipson.
The alternative—described as "the Celebrity Death Match"—would see Starmer announce his departure but remain until Labour's September conference. This would allow major campaigns by Wes Streeting, Angela Rayner, and possibly Ed Miliband to mobilize, while providing time for "King of the North" Andy Burnham to secure a parliamentary seat and present his platform.
Regardless of the method, the decision has been made. As one normally loyal minister confessed: "It's just bleak now. I don't see any way of this stopping. This has been going on for seven and half months. And it's not going away. Mandelson keeps hanging around like a bad smell."
With local elections expected to deliver an unmitigated disaster for Labour, the political undertakers are preparing their arrival. "It's going to have to be a men-in-grey-suits operation," one despondent minister concluded. "The great irony is that the perfect person to fulfil that role would have been Peter Mandelson. He is no longer available. But as Keir Starmer is about to find out, there are plenty of his colleagues around the Cabinet table who will be only too happy to take the Prince of Darkness's place."
