For months, MPs expected the results of the May elections across Great Britain to be a tipping point in Keir Starmer’s premiership. But in the aftermath of the results, and as the number of Labour MPs publicly calling for Starmer to leave has gone past 80, it has become clear that his opponents are serving a variety of agendas. Here are some of the key tendencies visible in the growing opposition to Starmer.
Frustration after local elections
Catherine West, the former Foreign Office minister who briefly threatened to launch a “stalking horse” candidacy, spoke for many MPs still reeling from the local elections results when she dared cabinet ministers and others to formally challenge Starmer.
The MP for Hornsey and Friern Barnet was prompted to go public after a furious WhatsApp exchange with the housing secretary, Steve Reed. Others – including Paulette Hamilton, the MP for Erdington, Ruth Jones (Newport West and Islwyn), Richard Baker (Glenrothes and Mid Fife) and Alex Ballinger (Halesowen) blamed the fact that “constituents have lost confidence” in Starmer.
A former supporter of Starmer said: “He clearly did not feel the pain of the local elections results and that came across in his speech. The lack of empathy. He did not come from the political grassroots and it shows. If he doesn’t have the empathy there will continue to be a trickle of fed-up MPs.”
Post-reshuffle resentment?
Some Labour MPs believe many of their colleagues have been biding their time to express how they truly felt about Starmer’s reshuffle before the party conference last year after Angela Rayner’s resignation from government. “Talented people were sacked, and Starmer made them feel as though they were the problem when it’s always been about his lack of vision,” a publicly loyal senior figure said.
West was sacked as the minister for the Indo-Pacific in last September’s reshuffle. Justin Madders, the former employment minister, is a member of the Tribune group, who support Andy Burnham or will back another soft-left candidate if Burnham cannot get into Westminster in time. Catherine McKinnell, the former Send minister, also sacked in the reshuffle, is known as an ally of Wes Streeting.
Streeting supporters seeking ‘swift’ resolution
There are some in the parliamentary Labour party (PLP) who thought as early as Monday that Streeting was orchestrating a coordinated move against Starmer. A number of his allies – including Chris Curtis (MP for Milton Keynes North), Jas Athwal (Ilford South) and Joe Morris (Hexham) – used similar language about a “swift” leadership transition. This framing plainly benefits the health secretary – given that Burnham is not currently an MP – and he apparently has “hundreds of supporters” in the PLP. Three of the ministers who quit on Tuesday, Alex Davies-Jones, Jess Phillips and Zubir Ahmed, are also seen as close to Streeting, releasing devastating resignation letters. Ahmed’s letter similarly called for an “expedient” transition.
Burnham backers asking for an ‘orderly transition’
Labour MPs who have called for Starmer to set out a plan for an “orderly transition” tend to be backers of Burnham – or, in the event the mayor of Greater Manchester doesn’t make it back into parliament before a contest, a soft-left contender to challenge Streeting and potentially a No 10 continuity candidate. Allies and supporters of Burnham – including Paula Barker (MP for Liverpool Wavertree), Louise Haigh (Sheffield Heeley), Clive Lewis (Norwich South), Connor Naismith (Crewe and Nantwich) and Simon Opher (Stroud), to name a few – believe a longer timeline will give the PLP and the unions time to have a proper discussion about future Labour policy and vision, plus, of course, space for Burnham to win a byelection.
Josh Simons, the former director of Labour Together who was forced to resign as a Cabinet Office minister three months ago, has also supported a longer timeline for departure. Simons, the MP for Makerfield and a former supporter of Starmer, claimed the prime minister had lost the country.
The Socialist Campaign Group
This roughly 30-strong group of “hard-left” MPs are often painted as the “usual suspects” from within the PLP, and tend to criticise the direction of Starmer’s government. Many of them were first to call for the prime minister to go, and are said to hope for a slower transition to reduce the odds of Streeting, a Blairite, becoming the next prime minister.
