in brief
- Around 70 MPs have publicly called for Starmer's resignation.
- The UK Labour Party suffered massive losses during local elections at the weekend.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing mounting pressure as four ministerial aides have stepped down and more than 70 Labour MPs have publicly called for his resignation.
At an address to the party faithful in London, Starmer had made an impassioned plea to both his party and voters to stick with him and avoid a leadership contest he said would only bring chaos, promising to be bolder.
But his speech, in which he all but admitted he had been too timid in tackling the myriad of problems besetting the United Kingdom since he won a large majority in 2024, did little to ease the anger felt over one of the worst defeats for Labour in last week's local elections.
Four ministerial aides have now announced their resignations, saying that they believe Starmer, 63, is not the man to lead Labour into the next general election — scheduled for 2029 — and hoping to trigger a leadership contest that could last weeks if not months.
The Labour Party rulebook states that a leadership election can only be triggered if someone seeking to replace a leader can gain the written support of 20 per cent of the parliamentary party.
Currently, that would mean 81 MPs. While it is not being suggested that any figure within the party has such support, that number is considered significant as it indicates that a challenger could be successful against the leader.
"It is clear to me that the prime minister has lost authority not just within the parliamentary Labour Party but across the country and that he will not be able to regain it," said Tom Rutland, a ministerial aide to the environment minister, in his resignation letter.
Catherine West, an Australian-born former junior minister who broke cover at the weekend to threaten to seek a leadership contest if Starmer failed to offer radical change, told Reuters she had received 80 responses supporting her demand that the prime minister set out a timetable for his departure.
She called for a leadership election to happen in September.
Starmer told to go
The Times newspaper reported on Monday evening that Starmer had been told by interior minister Shabana Mahmood and other senior cabinet ministers to consider setting out a timeline for his departure.
The Guardian UK is reporting that another senior cabinet minister, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, has also told the PM that he should oversee an orderly transition of power.
The Times reported that Mahmood was one of at least three cabinet ministers to suggest that the prime minister needs to consider his position.
Two of Starmer's closest allies, environment minister Steve Reed and defence minister John Healey, entered the prime minister's Downing Street office late on Monday, according to Sky News.
Officials did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on whether it was a scheduled meeting.
The PM has said previously that he would stand again if a contest is forced.
Labour rules make replacing a leader more difficult than a Conservative one, as they require MPs to publicly rally around a rival, rather than express dissatisfaction with the leader anonymously.
Frustration with the PM
Local elections held over the weekend in the UK saw Labour lose 1,498 councillors and control of 38 local councils.
The right-wing populist party gaining ground in the country, Reform, won 1,454 councillors and control of 14 councils.
Reform leader Nigel Farage has said that the result has "killed" two-party politics in the United Kingdom.
YouGov polling indicates that the party could become the largest in the country if the election was held today.
Following the results, Starmer had tried to change the narrative about his leadership, arguing he would offer a "complete break" with the decision-making of the past that led to the "status quo".
Starmer promised to govern with the "hope" and "urgency" required to improve living standards and produce a "stronger, fairer" country to try to crush the challenge posed by Reform on the right, and the ascendant Greens on the left, before the next general election.
"Our response this time must be different, a complete break. We must make this country stronger and take control of our economic security," Starmer said earlier on Monday.
"I know that people are frustrated by the state of Britain. Frustrated by politics, and some people are frustrated with me," he said.
"I know I have my doubters, and I know I need to prove them wrong. And I will," Starmer told an audience of party faithful, who offered him several standing ovations.
The applause was a long way from the messaging groups of Labour MPs, where talk about removing Starmer has stepped up a gear after the party lost hundreds of seats in elections to councils in England and the parliaments in Scotland and Wales.
While there were few Labour lawmakers who were prepared to publicly endorse Starmer, the prime minister's closest allies again warned against removing a leader this early into his premiership, saying it would only further harm Britain.
"Changing leader just leads to chaos. We saw what happened under the Tories. Let's learn from their mistakes, not repeat them," Reed said on social media, referring to the opposition Conservative Party.
But Reed seemed to be a lone voice. Earlier attempts to oust Starmer had been met with a resounding backing from most of his top cabinet team of ministers.
Angela Rayner, former deputy prime minister seen as a potential challenger for the leadership after criticising Starmer's operation on Sunday, told a union conference the government "will be judged on actions and not just our words".
Starmer has long said he would not leave his job voluntarily, and his team said the speech was a way of showing the often quietly spoken former lawyer was resolute in delivering not only for his party, but the wider country.
In it he promised to build closer ties with Europe, to nationalise a key steel business and to do more to help young people get into work.
"I'm not going to walk away," Starmer said.
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