A growing number of Labour MPs have publicly warned Sir Keir Starmer is on the brink of being ousted amid the fallout from Peter Mandelson’s sacking and a turbulent first year in office.
On Monday, Richard Burgon, MP for Leeds East, said the prime minister must “change course immediately” or he will be gone by May, saying it is “inevitable” the prime minister will be forced to quit if the local elections are as bad as predicted.
He also warned the UK is facing a “real threat for the first time in our country’s history of what I would consider to be a far-right extremist government”, arguing it is the prime minister’s “duty to stop that happening”.
“He can only do that by delivering for people who want real change. And if he can’t do that, then of course, there’s going to have to be change at the very top,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
It comes after Labour MP Clive Lewis warned on Friday that Sir Keir “doesn’t seem up to the job”, while fellow MP Graham Stringer said Sir Keir is “supping in the last-chance saloon”.
The MP for Blackley and Middleton South told Times Radio that “it is a given” among Labour MPs that the prime minister is “making mistakes and doing poorly at the job”.
The warnings come just over a year after Labour won a historic majority, with the government now seeing growing concern over devastating approval ratings and mounting discontent brewing among Labour backbenchers.
Britain’s ambassador to the US was dramatically sacked on Thursday amid new revelations about his relationship with the convicted paedophile, raising serious questions about the prime minister’s judgement and leading Mr Lewis to become the first backbencher to publicly call for the prime minister to go.
Giving a harsh verdict on Sir Keir’s government, Mr Burgon said: “I think it’s inevitable that if May’s elections go as people predict and the opinion polls predict, then I think Starmer will be gone at that time.”
He added: “It feels like we’re years and years into an unpopular government, rather than a year into a government that’s just got rid of the Conservatives. We’re losing votes to the left. We’re going to be losing seats to the right.
“But fundamentally, for me, we face a real threat for the first time in our country’s history of what I would consider to be a far-right extremist government.
“It’s the prime minister’s duty to stop that happening. He can only do that by delivering for people who want real change. And if he can’t do that, then of course, there’s going to have to be change at the very top,” he said.
“The prime minister needs to change course immediately. Otherwise, I’m pretty certain he’ll be gone next May as it stands.”
Asked whether he thinks it is possible for the prime minister to change course, Mr Burgon said: “That remains to be seen. I have to say that I’m not confident, because the signs are bad, because backbenchers and voters have been telling the prime minister on key issues that he’s got it wrong, but he hasn’t listened.”
He added: “Listening is an important part of leadership. And without a change in political direction, without a change in political culture, then the prime minister, and therefore the government, will continue to fail.”
Behind the scenes, many left-wing Labour MPs are looking to Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham as a possible option to replace Sir Keir. There are reports he is gearing up to launch a leadership bid, calling on Downing Street to introduce wealth taxes, nationalise utility companies and end the two-child benefit cap.
Mr Lewis, the leftist MP for Norwich South, last week told BBC Radio 4’s Week in Westminster programme: “You see a Labour prime minister who feels that he’s lost control within the first year.
“This isn’t navel-gazing. This is me thinking about my constituents, this country, and the fact that the person who is eight points ahead of us is Nigel Farage. That terrifies me.
“It terrifies my constituents, and it terrifies a lot of people in this country. We don’t have the luxury of carrying on this way with someone who I think, increasingly, I’m sorry to say, just doesn’t seem up to the job.”
Meanwhile, when asked what word he would use to describe the prime minister’s current status, Mr Stringer replied: “Vulnerable. He seems to be unable to take quick, reasoned decisions and explain them politically.
“He doesn’t seem to have the basic skills that most politicians have. He’s 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.”
Skills minister Baroness Jacqui Smith rejected suggestions that the Labour government was ignoring its MPs, as well as claiming Mr Burgon has “never supported this prime minister”.
She told Times Radio: “I don’t believe we are ignoring our MPs… I think what we’re doing is getting on with the job that the British people elected us to do, that they elected our MPs to do, that the vast majority of our MPs also believe that a Labour government should focus on.”
Asked about Mr Burgon’s comments, she said: “Richard Burgon has never supported this prime minister.
“He actually had the whip removed from him for a period of time because of his failure to support the government, so the fact that he now thinks the prime minister should go is not actually new news.”
Asked if she thought Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham would do a better job as leader, she said: “No. I think the prime minister is doing a good job.
“Of course, Andy isn’t in parliament, he’s doing a really good job as mayor of Greater Manchester and actually when I talk to Andy what we tend to talk about is how can we make sure young people are getting the skills they need in Manchester, how can we support him to provide more opportunities… for the people of Greater Manchester.”
In order to challenge Sir Keir for the leadership of the Labour Party, Mr Burnham would have to find a parliamentary seat through a by-election. One possible option would be the Gorton and Denton seat in Manchester, where MP Andrew Gwynne has been suspended after sending sexist WhatsApp messages.
Serious questions were raised over the prime minister’s leadership after he was forced to sack Peter Mandelson as ambassador over his links with Epstein, despite publicly defending the Labour grandee at PMQs the day before.
