Sir Keir Starmer is fighting to retain his position as Labour leader amid mounting calls for his resignation, with a backbench MP threatening to launch a leadership challenge if the Cabinet does not act. The Prime Minister will use a speech on Monday and the King’s Speech on Wednesday to mount a fightback after growing numbers of Labour MPs demanded a change at the top.
Former minister Catherine West said she would launch an unlikely leadership challenge on Monday in an attempt to force the Cabinet to remove Sir Keir. She told the BBC’s PM programme: “I’m putting people on notice – if I don’t hear by Monday morning of some leadership hopefuls, I will be asking everybody in the Parliamentary Labour Party to put a name against my name, because we need to get this ball rolling.” She claimed the backing of 10 MPs, well short of the 81 needed to trigger a contest.
Sir Keir has been hammered by the twin threats of Reform UK on the right and the Green Party on the left, with Labour losing control of councils in Barnsley, Bradford, and Lambeth. In Wales, the party was reduced to just nine of 96 Senedd seats, with First Minister Baroness Eluned Morgan losing her seat.
Sir Keir insisted he would not “walk away” from his job, claiming it would “plunge the country into chaos” if he quit. He acknowledged the government had made “unnecessary mistakes” by failing to offer hope, saying: “The hope wasn’t there enough in the first two years of this government.”
Deputy Labour leader Lucy Powell dismissed calls for a leadership timetable, arguing it would “fire the starting gun” on a distracting debate. Health Secretary Wes Streeting, despite speculation about his ambitions, said the Prime Minister would “have my support” in setting out the government’s path forward.
