Union leaders are piling in on Sir Keir Starmer as a Labour mutiny gathers pace after this week’s local elections disaster.
The Prime Minister today vowed to stay in his role for another eight years, insisting he is at the beginning of a ’10-year-project of renewal’.
In a desperate bid to save his premiership he wheeled out Labour veterans Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman back into government yesterday.
But the move has failed to quell the ire of union leaders who have accused Labour of being ‘disconnected from the working classes’.
Sharon Graham, the general secretary of Unite, this morning joined calls for Sir Keir to set out a timetable for his departure.
It follows a threat from backbencher Catherine West to launch a ‘stalking horse’ leadership bid – with No10 nervous anger is so great she could get the 81 nominations required to spark a vote.
ANOTHER union chief accuses Labour of ‘disconnecting from working class people’
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.
Former Starmer ally says he ‘does not believe PM can rise to this moment’
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.
Cabinet source predicts 60-40 odds Labour tumbles into leadership contest within days
A cabinet source has told Sky News they think it’s 60-40 odds that a ‘disorderly’ leadership contest is called within the next few days.
Another insider said:
I appreciate these things can spiral, and this is clearly a moment of danger for Keir Starmer, especially if, as I assume is the case, the speech tomorrow is underwhelming.
Former Blairite cabinet minister claims Labour is ‘facing existential crisis’
Peter Hain, who held various cabinet posts between 2005 and 2010 and who is now a Labour peer told Radio 4’s the World at One that Keir Starmer must now implement fundamental change – if he wants to survive.
He said:
He has to change, or he’ll be changed, either by the party or by voters. And it’s got to be real change, not just cosmetic change of the kind that he’s indulged in in the past.
Secondly, he’s got to stop making stupid mistakes like appointing Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US, and also the winter fuel allowance [cut], which really destroyed people’s belief that this was a Labour government.
Mr Hain also insisted the Prime Minister must ‘abandon Tory orthodoxy’.
‘Go Cath’: Australian journalist Michael West congratulates his sister for plot to oust Keir Starmer
Labour MPs are not the only ones celebrating backbencher Catherine West’s leadership challenge against Sir Keir Starmer.
In a post on X, the Australian journalist Michael West issued a show of solidarity with his 59-year-old sister.
He observed: ‘Seems my sister has just launched a leadership challenge to Keir Starmer.’
Could Wes Streeting seize the moment by pouncing on Ms West’s leadership plot?
Alarm has been raised that Ms West’s threat to launch a ‘stalking horse’ challenge to Sir Keir as early as tomorrow could put Wes Streeting – seen as on the Blairite wing of the party – in No10.
Some believe the Health Secretary’s allies want to force a leadership crisis before Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, favoured by many on the Left, can find a way of returning to the Commons.
Having neutralised Mr Burnham, Mr Streeting would then try to see off the challenge from his other big rival Angela Rayner – who is still wrangling with HMRC over her unpaid stamp duty.
Labour MP: ‘We don’t need a cabinet stitch-up but we do need Keir Starmer to set out a timetable to go’
Richard Burgon, Labour MP for Leeds East, appears to share the view of many other Starmer-skeptics in his party.
He believes Keir Starmer should resign – but that Catherine West’s leadership bid plot is not the answer.
Speaking to Sky News, he said:
We need a full process which doesn’t just involve members of the cabinet or MPs but involves our trade unions as well, party members and Labour councillors – and those who through no fault of their own lost their seat.
Who is sticking by Starmer?
Crucially, Starmer’s cabinet are remaining loyal to him despite Thursday’s election losses.
Bridget Phillipson, the education minister, said she was confident the prime minister could turn things around, telling Sky News today that Sir Keir would set out a ‘fresh direction’ for Britain in a speech on Monday.
Among his vocal supporters outside the cabinet are deputy party leader Lucy Powell who yesterday said Labour must ‘listen’ and ‘change’ approach but stick with Starmer.
It is a similar line taken by several Labour MPs such as the likes of Tom Hayes for Bournemouth East who has warned against ‘blaming the boss’.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar blames ‘national wave’ against party for worst ever Holyrood election result
The leader of the Labour party in Scotland has blamed a ‘national wave’ against the party for its worst result of devolution, which saw only 17 MSPs elected.
Anas Sarwar accepted the outcome as ‘disappointing and hurtful’ but added he ‘absolutely’ intends to stay in post.
Labour is now tied with Holyrood newcomers Reform UK for second place in the Edinburgh Parliament.
Speaking on BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show, Mr Sarwar said:
The reality is we believed we could cut through the national noise, we had a campaign designed to try to cut through the national noise, but we failed to do so and ultimately that is why we got the result we did.
WATCH: Catherine West says ‘some excellent people need to have courage’ and oust Starmer as leader
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.
Starmer: There will be ‘no holding back’ in forging closer ties to Europe
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.
‘Nigel is not a policy’, shadow housing secretary laments
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.
