Keir Starmer faces a make-or-break moment today as he attempts to revive his premiership with a major speech after last week’s elections disaster.
The Prime Minister will vow to put Britain back at the heart of Europe and “face up to the big challenges” the country faces when he delivers his address around 10am. He spent Sunday holed up in No10 preparing for the crunch moment as a flurry of Labour MPs over the weekend demanded he set out a timetable for his departure.
Other backbenchers are waiting to hear the contents of Mr Starmer’s speech before deciding whether to join calls for the Prime Minister’s exit from Downing Street. It comes after Labour heavyweight Angela Rayner issued an ultimatum to Mr Starmer and warned the party faces its “last chance” to deliver change. She also hit out at the “mistake” of blocking Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham’s Westminster return.
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Tom Watson – another former Labour deputy leader who now sits in the House of Lords – has criticised his party for indulging in “amateur dramatics” after backbencher Catherine West openly plotted a ‘stalking horse’ leadership bid over the weekend.
He wrote on his Substack: “It feels as though the media have jumped the shark this morning, although Labour MPs have given them the surfboard.
“We are now in the extraordinary position where a single backbench MP, with limited reach and no serious prospect of becoming Prime Minister, has decided that if the Prime Minister’s speech does not personally reassure her, she will trigger a leadership challenge.
“This is not strategy. It’s amateur dramatics.”
Former Labour deputy Tom Watson branded the stalking horse challenge ‘amateur dramatics'(Image: PA)
The former deputy Prime Minister released a lengthy statement last night that stopped short of launching a leadership challenge – but stressed Labour was on its “last chance” to get throught to voters.
Referring to Friday’s local election results, she said: “In London, we lost young people who fear they will never afford a home.
“Across the north, we lost working people whose wages are too low and costs too high. In Scotland and Wales, people do not see Labour as the answer. We are in danger of becoming a party of the well-off, not working people.”
She said the Peter Mandelson scandal highlighted “a toxic culture of cronyism” in the party.
And she blasted Mr Starmer’s decision to stop Andy Burnham from standing in the Gorton and Denton by-election in February, which saw the Greens take a previously safe Labour seat.
Read more: Keir Starmer faces biggest test yet as Angela Rayner warns of ‘last chance’
Angela Rayner issued a statement in the wake of the local elections(Image: Men Media)
Cabinet minister Peter Kyle – a close friend of Wes Streeting – has attempted to dismiss reports the Health Secretary is planning a leadership punt.
Mr Kyle told Sky News he was out campaigning with Mr Streeting last weekend. The pair then went for dinner and watched the Devil Wears Prada 2 together. He tells Sky News: “Somebody who was planning to pull the plug and launch a leadership bid in a couple of days time doesn’t go to the cinema with a friend.”
The Business Secretary also said he accepts people are “fed-up” following last week’s elections, adding: “Our party is convulsed by the results.” He told Times Radio: “He is the right person that needs to lead us through this. He needs to really meet the moment that we’re in. We all need to support him in that, because he can’t do it alone.“And I’ve said this consistently since opposition, that too often people look to him as one person that can fix every problem.”Pressed on whether he wants eight more years of Mr Starmer at the helm, Mr Kyle said: “I want eight years of delivering for the people of this country, led by the Prime Minister that we have now, that is actually delivering. He has faced so many challenges in office, he has met the moment so many times when it comes to the challenges we face on the international scene, fixing our public services, leading a Cabinet that is delivering, but we recognise that people want more urgency.”
Ashley CowburnToday07:58 BST
Keir Starmer will deliver a make-or-break speech this morning as he fights for his political survival.
The Prime Minister will vow to deliver strength through fairness with no half measures and put the UK back at the heart of Europe after Friday’s local elections mauling.
The PM is expected to say: “To meet the challenges that our country faces, incremental change won’t cut it. On growth, defence, Europe, energy – we need a bigger response than we anticipated in 2024 because these are not ordinary times. Strength through fairness. It’s a core Labour argument. And you will see those values writ large in the King’s Speech.”
But he faces a moment of peril after former Foreign Office Minister Catherine West threatened to challenge the Prime Minister over the weekend. She said yesterday: “I will hear what the Prime Minister’s got to say tomorrow and, then if I’m still dissatisfied, I will put out my email to the Parliamentary Labour Party, asking for names [to support a leadership bid]. And the reason is not for me. It’s for working people, because Labour is the only party that can beat Reform.”