Oh dear. If Sir Keir Starmer thought his first 12 months in office had been rocky, his second year in power is shaping up to be an even bumpier ride. This weekend saw myriad briefings against the Prime Minister after a tumultuous two weeks in which he lost his deputy Angela Rayner to a tax scandal, British ambassador Peter Mandelson over Epstein and saw a Tommy Robinson rally demonstrating how increasingly polarised the UK is becoming. As Labour continues to struggle in the polls, some in Starmer’s army believe that a poor performance at next May’s local and devolved parliament elections could spell the end for Sir Keir.
Some backbenchers are so furious about their party’s unpopularity under the former lawyer that they’ve gone public with their admonishments. Read the full list here…
- Kim Johnson, MP for Liverpool Riverside, told the Telegraph about Starmer’s decision to appoint Mandelson: ‘As much as [Mr Mandelson] says on radio that he regrets it, the fact is that he called him his “best pal” in his birthday card. That suggests to me a very strong relationship because who sends cards with those comments on? He should never have got it in the first place.’
- Bell Ribeiro-Addy, MP for Clapham and Brixton Hill, told the BBC during her deputy leadership bid: ‘We are currently haemorrhaging votes to the Lib Dems, to the Greens. All we seem to do at the moment is chase down Reform and we cannot do that.’
- Clive Lewis, MP for Norwich South, told the BBC during the furore over Mandelson: ‘[Starmer] doesn’t seem up to the job’.
- Paula Barker, MP for Liverpool Wavertree, spoke to BBC Radio 5’s Matt Chorley about awarding Mandelson the ambassador role: ‘My colleagues, who represent their constituents every single day, diligently, and stood up against welfare cuts, some of those were suspended for doing the right thing, for standing up for their constituents. Yet we have a man like Mandelson, who is just basically allowed to get away with this – I just think it’s absolutely disgusting, quite frankly.’ She added his holding the post was an ‘absolute betrayal’ of Labour’s promise to raise standards in public life.
- Jon Trickett, MP for Normanton and Hemsworth, writing in Tribune: ‘The Labour government has lost its way. Languishing in the polls and lacking a clear narrative about Britain’s future, we are facing an existential crisis.’
- Barry Gardiner, MP for Brent West, on GB News: MPs are ‘frustrated and angry’ over the government failures of the last few weeks. He added: ‘MPs are really concerned about the missteps that have been made at the top of the party in the past few weeks.’
- Helen Hayes, MP for Dulwich and West Norwood, said on BBC Radio 4 that poor results in next year’s elections would give rise to ‘questions about the nature of the leadership’.
- Richard Burgon, MP for Leeds East, said on the BBC: ‘I think it’s inevitable if May’s elections go as people predict and the opinion polls predict then I think Starmer will be gone at that time.’
- Diane Abbott, MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, said on Times Radio: ‘I don’t want to say that we should have a new leader tomorrow, but we know there are going to be a big set of elections in May, including Scotland and Wales. And we know that everybody is saying, not least Scottish and Welsh MPs, that we’re going to do badly in them. And I think if we do as badly as people say, well, it will be the case then that Starmer’s future as Labour leader and Labour prime minister will be over, really.’
- Graham Stringer, MP for Blackley and Middleton South, said on Times Radio: ‘[Starmer is] an example of an intelligent, skilled man, at the top of his profession, whose skills are not transferable to politics. And what happens? You get a government fraying at the edges… He supping in the last-chance saloon.’
- Rosena Allin-Khan, MP for Tooting, said on the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg show: ‘The polls are going to show in May whether people believe [Starmer] is up to the job’.
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