Sir Keir Starmer faces being ousted as Labour leader next year if the party fails to win over voters at the local elections, the Prime Minister has been warned.
Labour MPs are reeling over high-profile sackings and resignations in recent weeks, including Angela Rayner who quit as Deputy Prime Minister following a tax scandal and Peter Mandelson being fired a British Ambassador to the US over his relationship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Labour is trailing Nigel Farage's Reform UK in opinion polls and has lost a large number of council by-elections since Sir Keir won in a landslide at the 2024 general election.
A cabinet reshuffle last week saw several ministers sacked and a purge of the Home Office, which has been blamed for blocking reforms needed to stop small boats.
Dulwich and West Norwood MP Helen Hayes said there will need to be "questions about the nature of the leadership" if Labour fare badly in polls next year.
"If those elections don't go well, then that will be the time to ask questions," she told BBC Radio 4's Westminster Hour.
Former frontbencher Richard Burgon said it was "inevitable" Sir Keir would be toppled if the 2026 local elections in London, Scotland, Wales and large parts of England go badly for the party.
Left winger Mr Burgon, a member of the shadow cabinet under Sir Keir's predecessor Jeremy Corbyn, told the BBC on Monday: "Lots of MPs are looking to the elections next May, the opinion polls suggest it's going to be a complete disaster unfortunately.
"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 are 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."
Skills minister and former home secretary Baroness Jacqui Smith defended Sir Keir, saying: "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."
There has been speculation within Labour circles that Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham could be manoeuvred into a Westminster seat in order to present himself as a leadership rival.
Mr Burnham’s allies have rejected suggestions that he is laying the foundations for a future leadership bid, calling the rumours "pure speculation with no substance".
Asked if she thought Mr Burnham would do a better job as leader, Lady Smith 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."
The Prime Minister is facing a difficult week with Donald Trump beginning his state visit on Tuesday as questions over when Sir Keir and No 10 knew the details of emails published last week that showed Labour grandee Lord Mandelson sent supportive messages to paedophile financier Epstein even as he faced jail for sex offences.
Lady Smith acknowledged that the Government was aware of emails between Lord Mandelson and Epstein on Tuesday last week, before Sir Keir's public defence of the then ambassador at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday.
Lord Mandelson was sacked on Thursday after Sir Keir had reviewed the contents of the emails, Downing Street has said.
Lady Smith said: "What happened on Tuesday was that media sources came forward to the Foreign Office with extracts from the emails. The Foreign Office asked questions of Peter Mandelson.
"It was on Wednesday, and in fact not until after Prime Minister's Questions that No 10 and the Prime Minister saw the detail of those emails."
The Conservatives have written to Sir Keir asking him to explain the sequence of events leading to Lord Mandelson's sacking and publish documents relating to his vetting and correspondence with the Downing Street operation last week.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: "If the PM really believes in accountability, he would stop hiding, face Parliament, publish the Mandelson/Epstein files and tell the truth about what he and his chief of staff (Morgan McSweeney) knew and when."
