Home secretary Shabana Mahmood is among at least four senior ministers who have urged Sir Keir Starmer to quit ahead of a crunch meeting of the cabinet on Tuesday, with the besieged prime minister’s premiership hanging in the balance.
As the number of Labour MPs calling for Sir Keir to go immediately or set a timetable for his departure passed 80 on Monday night, feverish speculation turned towards an expected leadership bid from health secretary Wes Streeting to be unveiled on Tuesday.
Amid the revolt, Sir Keir was also hit by the resignation of four ministerial aides, including Joe Morris, parliamentary private secretary (PPS) for Mr Streeting, and Tom Rutland, a PPS to environment secretary Emma Reynolds.
And late on Monday it emerged that Ms Mahmood, who was appointed justice secretary and lord chancellor by Sir Keir two years ago, was one of those in the cabinet believed to have called on the prime minister to set out a timetable for his resignation. Foreign secretary Yvette Cooper is understood to be another.
In a sign of the febrile atmosphere in Westminster, junior health minister Stephen Kinnock said some Cabinet members “may well” call for the prime minister to go at Tuesday’s weekly meeting of ministers.
The meltdown comes just hours after Sir Keir attempted a fightback, vowing to prove his doubters wrong on Monday morning. His make-or-break speech in central London was met with cheers from his audience in the room, but failed to impress furious backbenchers still reeling from last week’s historically poor election results.
Some 81 Labour MPs from all wings of the party called on the prime minister to go, and there was growing speculation that Mr Streeting was about to launch a coup.
Several supporters of Mr Streeting joined the growing list of MPs calling for the PM to quit, including Chris Curtis, chair of the growth group, and MPs Josh Simons and Jas Athwal. Ministerial aides Sally Jamieson, Melanie Ward, Mr Rutland and Mr Morris also resigned from the government.
Allies of former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner were also said to be preparing for their own leadership bid, with an expectation that Mr Streeting would make an announcement on Tuesday.
One senior Labour source said: “Things are going to kick off tomorrow [Tuesday].”
But in a defiant message to his critics, Sir Keir said: “I get it, I feel it, and I take responsibility. I know I have my doubters, and I know I need to prove them wrong, and I will.”
Addressing the challenges posed by Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and Zack Polanski’s Green Party, both of which took hundreds of seats from Labour at the local elections, Sir Keir urged his party to get behind him.
“This is nothing less than a battle for the soul of our nation, and I want to be crystal clear about how we will win it, because we cannot win as a weaker version of Reform or the Greens,” he said.
“We can only win as a stronger version of Labour, a mainstream party of power, not protest.
But while he was cheered in the crowded room of the Coin Community Centre in the City of London, his message failed to impress the wider audience outside.
There was concern that he dodged a question as to whether he would try to block the return of Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham to parliament, with support growing for him to replace Sir Keir.
Energy secretary Ed Miliband remained silent in the wake of the prime minister’s speech, but Ms Rayner reiterated calls first made on Sunday for Mr Burnham, himself a favourite to take over from Sir Keir, to return to Westminster.
Meanwhile, several MPs said they were disappointed by the PM’s speech, which included very little policy detail. There was a vague promise to put the UK back at the heart of Europe, but no details of how this would happen or if it meant undoing Brexit and setting a path to rejoin.
Sir Keir did confirm that British Steel would be nationalised, but did not follow this up with a new economic policy that either promised the growth desired by the right of the party or the nationalisation demanded by the left.
Newcastle North MP Catherine McKinnell said: “It’s become clear that it is time for a new leader to take us to the finishing line of this term and on to the next.” Her city saw a wipeout for Labour councillors as Reform took control.
Plymouth Moor View MP Fred Thomas, another previous loyalist, wrote in support of a leadership contest. He said: “I have nothing but respect for Sir Keir Starmer. He transformed our party and led us to an election victory. But sadly it is clear now that to deliver on our promise of change and to secure Britain’s future, we must look to a new leader.”
Mr Rutland said Sir Keir had “lost authority” within the Parliamentary Labour Party and across the country, and “will not be able to regain it”. Ms Ward, who served as PSP for deputy prime minister David Lammy, said: “The prime minister has lost the confidence of the public.”
Some loyalists of the PM had hit back at Labour MP Catherine West’s attempts to gather signatures to initiate a leadership election. After Monday’s speech, she said she would now canvass support for a timetable for Sir Keir’s resignation by September – and is understood to have the support of 80 MPs.
Banbury MP Sean Woodcock shared his email response to Ms West, in which he asked her to “please stop”. “I think this is a wholly unserious way of going about this,” he said.
“While I too had disappointing results in my seat and would describe myself far from happy at where we find ourselves, this is not how the government of a major economy and nuclear power should be decided”.
But on Monday night, as calls ramped up for Sir Keir to go, Mr Kinnock told Newsnight: “It is clear for everybody to see that a lot of people are either coming out and calling for Keir to resign or whatever it might be, and it is possible that members of the cabinet might do that.”
New analysis by RRD has shown which prominent MPs would lose their seats if last week’s local election results were repeated in a general election, underlining why MPs were panicking.
Cabinet ministers Lisa Nandy, Yvette Cooper and Jonathan Reynolds, along with Ms Rayner, would lose their seats to Reform.
Meanwhile, deputy leader Lucy Powell, Mr Lammy and veteran Labour MP Diane Abbott would lose their seats to the Greens.
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