Keir Starmer is on borrowed time even if he survives his latest crisis, according to backbench Labour MPs.
After it emerged that Peter Mandelson had been appointed US ambassador despite failing security vetting, Sir Keir tried to shore up his position after firing senior Foreign Office official Sir Olly Robbins, and claiming he had not been told of the vetting failure.
But the Prime Minister could still be ousted by backbenchers after the local elections, where Labour stands to lose control of half the councils it currently runs.
Veteran Labour MP Jon Trickett on Friday said it ‘simply doesn’t sound credible for Keir Starmer to claim that he was unaware that Mandelson had been denied security clearance’.
He added: ‘If the PM did not know, it raises gravely serious issues about the way we are governed.
‘Either way, the excuses coming from Downing Street won’t cut it on the doorstep in the run-up to the local elections.’
And another Labour MP told the Daily Mail they ‘find it astounding’ how Sir Keir was not on top of the detail that led to Mandelson’s appointment.
They said: ‘He told us all how forensic he was, because he was going to root antisemitism out of the party, and he said every file will be on my desk, and I’ll go to everyone.
‘If he is that forensic, how is it that even after he knew he was cheated at the last showdown on Peter Mandelson, he didn’t have every single file on his desk and find out this information?’
They added the ‘outstanding question’ is at what point Sir Keir admits culpability in office – after sacking multiple of his Whitehall aides in quick succession.
‘First you see the advisors go. Then the civil servants. Maybe a cabinet minister [will go]. David Lammy – will he take a hit?
‘But at what point does he take responsibility? That’s the outstanding question now.’
Labour peer Lord Sikka also said Sir Keir ‘can’t win this debate’.
While Maryam Eslamdoust, general secretary of the Labour affiliated TSSA union, said: ‘Keir has lost control by presiding over such reckless conduct’, adding Labour ‘needs a leadership contest’.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch – who has joked that working for Keir Starmer is ‘one of the most dangerous occupations in the UK’ – on Friday said she is ‘considering every option’ to help remove the PM.
She told a press conference in Westminster: ‘The fact is, the country gave Labour a landslide two years ago.
‘I do not have enough Conservative MPs to win a vote of no confidence. The people who can do that to make this happen are Labour MPs.
‘Labour MPs now need to decide whether they’re going to be complicit in this cover up and keep this man there to save their jobs or whether they are going to do the right thing.’
Under Labour’s rules, a leader can be challenged if at least 20 per cent of the party’s MPs nominate a single candidate to succeed him. Based on current numbers, this would be 80 MPs.
This would trigger a leadership contest in which other candidates could also try to gain enough nominations to stand – with Sir Keir automatically on the ballot paper if he chose to run again.
But the Labour leader may limp on as Prime Minister because there is a lack of leadership contenders willing to move against him.
Allies of former deputy leader Angela Rayner acknowledge it would be almost impossible for her to mount a leadership challenge until an investigation into her tax affairs has concluded.
Ms Rayner is also said to have stepped back from leadership manoeuvres – and is instead helping to prep Labour candidates for the upcoming local elections, held on 7 May.
And Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham remains unable to challenge Sir Keir while lacking a seat in Parliament.
This is despite more than half of voters wanting to see Sir Keir Starmer ousted as Labour leader, with most tipping Mr Burnham as their preferred candidate to replace him according to a January poll.
In a show of professed loyalty to Sir Keir, both Ms Rayner and Mr Burnham joined the Prime Minister on the campaign trail this week – ahead of what is expected to be a dismal set of electoral results for Labour.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting, meanwhile, was on Friday keeping a low profile having been warned his closeness to Mandelson could kill off his own leadership ambitions.
