Former Starmer ally joins calls for him to resign: Live updates

Labour MP Josh Simons has added his name to a growing list of disillusioned party representatives calling on Sir Keir Starmer to go.

Formerly considered a Starmer loyalist, Mr Simons is a previous director of the Labour Together think tank, which was important to Sir Keir’s rise to power.

Sharing his article for The Times to social media, Mr Simons admitted the piece was ‘not easy to write’.

But in a rallying call, he added, ‘We Labour MPs must square up to the truth. These elections were not a normal mid-term drubbing, they were an unequivocal judgement that our actions do not meet the moment.’

He wrote in The Times:

Putting the people I represent and the country I love first, I do not believe the prime minister can rise to this moment.

He has lost the country. He should take control of the situation by overseeing an orderly transition to a new prime minister.

In case you missed it, here is Labour backbencher Catherine West demanding her ‘excellent’ colleagues pluck up the courage to oust Sir Keir Starmer as leader.

Ms West revealed she will go public with a leadership coup on Monday if the Cabinet hasn’t moved against the Prime Minister by her deadline.

You can hear her full thoughts below.

Sir Keir Starmer has assured the general public that there will be ‘no holding back’ in calling for the UK to be ‘closer to Europe’ – ahead of his big reset speech tomorrow.

In his highly-anticipated address to MPs, the Prime Minister will also attempt to offer evidence he is responding to the scale of defeat inflicted on Labour in this week’s local elections.

He has now also signalled, in an Observer interview, that building a closer relationship with the EU will form part of his message tomorrow.

Shadow housing secretary James Cleverly has meanwhile insisted the Conservative party is doing better under Kemi Badenoch’s leadership – describing Reform UK as a ‘cult of personality’.

He told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg that Reform are ‘not the biggest party on the right’ and ‘being angry at stuff is not a policy’.

It follows an interview on the show just moments earlier with deputy Reform leader Richard Tice who defended Mr Farage amid criticism over an undeclared £5million gift.

Do you agree with Mr Cleverly’s view on the Conservative Party? Let us know in the comments.

Following Unite chief Sharon Graham’s scathing attack on Keir Starmer this morning, Dave Ward – the general secretary of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) – has now also come out against the Labour premier.

Speaking to delegates at the party’s conference in Bournemouth, he said:

There’s nobody in this room who doesn’t understand that that wasn’t down to the work of Labour councillors out on the ground.

That was down to the simple fact and truth that Labour has completely and utterly misread a lot of the situations that it faces and it has disconnected from working-class people.

So far, 36 Labour MPs have backed calls for Sir Keir Starmer to quit.

The latest, Josh Simons, is likely to cause particular concern for the premier as Mr Simons was once touted as a future star in a Starmer administration.

Other names include some of the usual suspects such as Labour veteran John McDonnell – as well as those who might still have a bone to pick with Sir Keir like former transport minister Louise Haigh.

However, the MPs are not necessarily signalling support for the leadership bid proposed by backbencher Catherine West.

In a social media post, Mr McDonnell clarified he ‘does not think this is the right approach’.

He added: ‘We need to discuss how we go forward and I worry some in shadows want to exploit her (Ms West’s) concerns and bounce us before we have a proper democratic process.’

Reform did well in the local elections – but this might not be the triumph it first appeared to be.

The party was easily beaten by Plaid in Wales, and won fewer seats in Scotland than it had hoped.

Although victorious in parts of England, it performed poorly in university towns and prosperous urban areas, and sometimes didn’t figure at all.

A general election could be three years away. But sensible people on the Right should be asking themselves what happens if, as seems likely, Reform fails to win outright.

You can read the full analysis by Stephen Glover here:

The hosts at the Rest Is Politics podcast have turned their attention to the Green Party’s Zack Polanski – noting the telltale signs he might be chronically online.

It comes as an investigation by the Economist found he liked 35,000 posts on one social media site in a 12-month period.

Around a third of the posts were said to have included his name.

Alastair Campbell said: ‘That’s a lot. That’s a lot of activity.’

Angela Rayner last night posted pictures of herself in murky waters as she went for a ‘Tough Mudder’ charity challenge swim.

The former Deputy Prime Minister was pictured clambering over a board, covered in dirt posing with fellow finishers.

Ms Rayner has been seen as one of the favourites to replace Sir Keir – though she is still straightening out her unpaid stamp duty affairs with HM Revenue & Customs.

A whistleblower has claimed the illegal practice of ‘family voting’ is rife.

One local government source revealed Manchester City Council had received 50 reports of the practice taking place.

You can read the full report by assistant investigations editor Mark Hookham here:

Sharon Graham, the general secretary of Unite, this morning joined calls for the Prime Minister to set out a timetable for his departure.

The boss of Labour’s biggest union donor told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuennsberg:

Personally, for me and my members in Unite, we’ve already cut our affiliations by 40 per cent because they haven’t been doing stuff for workers in a number of areas.

We will be saying that what we want is an ordered transition. And actually if Keir cares about the country as much as he says he cares about the country, what he needs to do now is to say, okay, look, this hasn’t worked.

Despite this, Sir Keir Starmer said yesterday he sees himself governing for another decade.

The Chancellor is said to have had an ‘almighty row’ with her younger sister Ellie at her son’s birthday after she joined Sir Keir Starmer in voting to block Andy Burnham from standing in the Gorton and Denton by-election.

To add to the drama, the siblings were also apparently playing The Traitors board game – based on the hit reality TV show about lies, deceit and treachery.

You can read the full report by political reporter Gabriel Millard-Clothier here: