Keir Starmer‘s premiership is in freefall as Cabinet ministers push him to quit.
Dozens of Labour MPs have now called for the Prime Minister to resign after a last-ditch fightback speech failed to quell a growing mutiny.
On Monday, Labour sources said a delegation of senior ministers had gone in to No 10 to tell him his time is up. Further face-to-face calls are expected at Tuesday morning’s meeting of the Cabinet if he refuses to budge.
‘It’s happening,’ said one source. ‘The PM has had his say, people have heard him out, but it has not changed minds. The herd is moving.’
Sir Keir warned that a leadership contest on the eve of Wednesday’s King’s Speech would plunge both the government and Britain into chaos.
But now leading figures including health secretary Wes Streeting and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham are privately canvassing supporters.
Financial markets took fright at the prospect of a contest driving Labour even further Left, pushing up the cost of government borrowing.
Seventy-two MPs – equal to around a third of all Labour backbenchers – have publicly demanded that Sir Keir set out a timetable for his resignation.
Pressure intensified as a string of ministerial aides quit the government saying they no longer believed the PM could turn things round.
Joe Morris, aide to Streeting, urged the PM to set out a ‘swift timetable’ for his departure to allow a new leader to ‘regain the confidence of the public’.
Mr Streeting has privately said he will not launch a direct challenge against Sir Keir, with allies fearing it would damage his chances.
But his campaign is said to be ‘ready to go’ if the PM faces a tidal wave of calls to resign.
The Prime Minister on Monday suggested he would stand and fight against any challenge, saying he would never ‘walk away’ – raising the possibility that Labour could now descend into a bloody civil war.
Ministers are also divided over who should succeed Sir Keir if he is forced out in the coming days.
Allies of Mr Streeting and Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham are among those MPs calling on Sir Keir to go.
But while Mr Streeting’s supporters want a swift contest, Mr Burnham’s allies want Sir Keir to delay his departure to give him to find a seat at Westminster where he could contest the leadership.
Angela Rayner on Monday called on the PM to drop his opposition to Mr Burnham’s return. Labour sources claimed Ms Rayner has agreed a ‘dream ticket’ deal with Mr Burnham which would see her return as deputy prime minister despite an ongoing investigation by HM Revenue and Customs into her tax affairs.
In a speech to the Communication Workers’ Union, Ms Rayner said Mr Burnham ‘should never have been blocked’, adding: ‘It was a mistake that the leadership of our party should put right.’
With Labour MPs divided over who should succeed Sir Keir, any contest would be highly unpredictable.
Mr Burnham is the current favourite. But he could be excluded from running if the PM is forced out in a chaotic process. Allies say he is ready to reveal this week that a sympathetic north west MP is willing to step aside to open up a route back to parliament.
But any by-election would take weeks if not months. And with Reform making sweeping gains in Labour’s Red Wall, such a contest could be fraught with risk. Mr Burnham would also have to persuade labour’s ruling National Executive Committee to allow him to stand after blocking his last bid in February.
Kemi Badenoch said it was ‘sad to watch’ the PM ‘floundering’ – and warned that replacing him with another Labour politician would make no difference.
‘It is not just Starmer,’ she said. ‘ll the pretenders jostling for his job do not have the answers either, because they all believe the same things: more welfare, more state control, more borrowing, more regulation.Â
‘They are busy arguing over who should drive the car, but the truth is they are all heading in the wrong direction.’
Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake warned that Labour infighting was ‘paralysing’ the government.
‘The Prime Minister is running out of both time and answers, while members of his own Cabinet plot their leadership bids. Britain cannot afford a government paralysed by one mans stubbornness.’
Tony Blair’s former spin chief Alastair Campbell warned that Labour MPs ‘descending into headless chickenry’ would deepen Labour’s problems.
Sir Keir has been under mounting pressure following disastrous local election results last week which saw Labour lose 1,500 council seats in England and trail in third in Wales and Scotland.
Keir Starmer admitted people are ‘frustrated with me’ in his speech on Monday
Starmer pictured last month with Angela Rayner and Andy Burnham, both touted as potential leadership contenders as his premiership continues to cave in
Dozens of Labour MPs today called for the Prime Minister to resign after a last-ditch fightback speech failed to quell a growing mutiny
Ms Rayner acted amid worries on the Left that Blairite Wes Streeting, pictured, is in pole position to take over from Sir Keir if there is an immediate contest
Markets are braced for Labour to lurch dramatically to the left as Starmer desperately tries to save himself
Jitters have been sparked after Angela Rayner formed an alliance with Manchester mayor Andy Burnham – and laid out a manifesto of higher tax, more handouts and nationalisations
The former deputy PM also hinted that she has linked up with Mr Burnham, calling for him to be allowed to stand at a Commons by-election
The PM attempted to head off a mutiny on Monday with a speech in which he acknowledged that he had ‘doubters’ within his own party but insisted he could ‘prove them wrong’.
Sir Keir warned that the ‘chaos’ of a leadership contest would cause ‘lasting damage’ – and warned that Labour would ‘never be forgiven for inflicting that on our country’.
He suggested that Labour infighting would only benefit opponents like Nigel Farage, saying: ‘If we don’t get this right our country will go down a very dark path.’
But the warning failed to tackle growing anger of his leadership.
Within an hour of the PM’s speech more backbenchers had started to call for him to go. By the evening the trickle of calls had turned into a flood.
A rebellion that started on the Left of the party in the immediate aftermath of the local elections last week had last night spread across the party.
Chris Curtis, chairman of the Labour Growth Group, which was set up to help push through Sir Keir’s pro-growth agenda, said it was time for him to go.
Mr Curtis, who is close to Mr Streeting, told Sky News: ‘I don’t think we saw a plan from the Prime Minister this morning in order to implement the kind of change that this country needs, and I therefore think it’s time for us to look for new leadership.’
Interest rates on 10-year gilts, one of the main ways the Government borrows money, ticked up this morning
Meanwhile, Cabinet ministers sat on their hands, with even senior figures such as Rachel Reeves, Shabana Mahmood and Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy offering no public show of support for the PM.
Culture secretary Lisa Nandy, who was sent out on the airwaves to defend the PM, said he was right to ‘acknowledge mistakes’ and his own personal unpopularity with voters.
But she urged a return to Westminster for Mr Burnham. And asked if he had done enough to turn things round, replied: ‘No, it’s not enough, to go out and make a speech.’
The crisis threatens to cause embarrassment for the King who is due to set out the government’s legislative programme for the coming session at tomorrow’s state opening of parliament.
