A cabinet minister has warned Labour MPs that “doomscrolling through leaders” would end in “annihilation” as Sir Keir Starmer is said to be facing a plot to oust him from office.
Backbenchers who won their seats in the 2024 election are reportedly planning to push for the prime minister’s resignation in an open letter following what is expected to be a disastrous set of local election results.
According to The Times, MPs are to blame Sir Keir for the outcome of the polls this week, and ask him to set a date for his departure.
The paper reported that a number of cabinet ministers are aware of the plot, but that none have joined the limited number of potential signatories.
But housing minister Steve Reed insisted on Tuesday that MPs “want this psychodrama to stop” and warned against the party from “doomscrolling through leaders”.
“What I’m getting from MPs is they want this psychodrama to stop,” he told Sky News.
“They want to focus on what's going to get them re-elected? What’s going to get me re-elected is, have we delivered the change we promised at the general election in July 2024?”
He added: “Let’s focus on what the British people want. We can’t be like the Tories and doom scroll through leaders; it ends in annihilation.
“We’ve got to focus on the British public, not ourselves.”
Writing in The Observer at the weekend, Sir Keir urged his party not to repeat the Conservative Party mistake of “descending into political infighting”.
“We have a choice. We could sink into the politics of grievance and division. Or we could rise to this moment – together – in a national effort that matches the scale of the threats and turbulence we face,” he said.
“When the nation rallied together to deal with Covid, the last government could have channelled that spirit to build a better nation. But instead, they descended into political infighting and let the country slump back to the old status quo. Not this time.”
The open letter would echo the drafting of a round-robin letter by normally loyal Labour MPs calling for Sir Tony Blair to step down in September 2006.
Then-defence minister Tom Watson and a string of junior members of the government quit their posts in a bid to force the New Labour prime minister to step down or name a date for his departure.
Sir Tony ultimately made a statement saying he would leave office in 12 months.
It comes amid rumblings of a potential leadership tilt by health secretary Wes Streeting, former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner or Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham.
Allies of Ms Rayner are confident she would be able to gain the support of the 81 MPs required to launch a challenge – a number which Mr Streeting is also said to have met, though neither is said to want to be the first to move.
Meanwhile, Mr Burnham has been tipped as a party favourite to succeed the prime minister, but he would have several logistical obstacles to clear before even returning to Westminster should he seek to mount a bid for No 10.
In a further blow to the prime minister, general secretary of the Labour-affiliated Fire Brigades Union Steve Wright called for Sir Keir to stand down.
“If they’re as bad as all the polls suggest – I’m not a betting man, but I’m sure they’re not going to be great, are they – I think Starmer should stand down,” he said.
“I think he should have stood down a couple of months ago and given me, others, Labour activists, people that are proud of the Labour Party, an opportunity to try and win round some people.”
Starmer warns Iran’s attempts to destabilise British society ‘will not be tolerated’
Local elections 2026: What are the polls saying for Labour, Reform and the Greens?
Local elections 2026: What are the polls saying for Labour, Reform and the Greens?
UK sanctions networks suspected of human trafficking in Ukraine war
I’m angry at Westminster, says Scottish Labour leader in attack on Starmer
Romania's prime minister fights for survival as no-confidence motion is debated in Parliament
