Challenge Starmer's leadership by Monday or I'll do it myself, Labour MP tells colleagues

LAST UPDATE | 5 hrs ago

A LABOUR MP has vowed to launch a leadership campaign against British prime minister Keir Starmer if he is not ousted by his Cabinet by tomorrow. 

Catherine West, who was in Starmer’s government until last September, made the announcement following the party’s election results in England, Scotland and Wales.

Labour lost nearly 1,500 seats in the local elections and lost power in Wales for the first time in century, while in Scotland, the party drew second with Reform UK as the SNP won a fifth term. 

Despite mounting pressure on him to quit, Starmer has vowed to lead Labour into the next general election. Yesterday, he appointed former prime minister Gordon Brown as an adviser.

He is planning to give a major speech tomorrow, while King’s Speech on Wednesday setting out the UK government’s priorities will also form part of Starmer’s attempt to reset his leadership after Labour was hammered at the ballot box.

Asked if he would lead Labour at the next election, expected in 2029, and serve a full term of up to five years, he told the Sunday Mirror: “Yes I will, and I’ve always said it’s a decade of national renewal, where the legacy we inherited was an appalling legacy on all fronts, not just the economy, which was broken.”

British education secretary Bridget Phillipson said people felt “bitterly let down” by Labour.

“I just do not believe that the message we should take from these elections is that we ought to spend time as a party amongst ourselves, arguing amongst ourselves, fighting amongst ourselves,” she told the BBC.

“We do need to tell a better story. We do need to deliver faster. The Prime Minister will set out a fresh direction for our country and for our party that will rise to the scale of what we face.”

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‘It’s for working people’

Catherine West intends to seek nominations tomorrow, but has made clear her campaign is an attempt to force the Cabinet to get behind a candidate to move against Starmer rather than a credible challenge to win the keys to No 10 herself.

The Hornsey and Friern Barnet MP said she would wait to hear Starmer’s speech before beginning the process of gathering the 81 MPs  – 20% of Labour MPs – she would need to formally trigger a contest.

She has claimed to have the backing of 10 MPs for her initiative, well short of the 81 needed to mount a challenge.

This morning, she told BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “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.

“And the reason I’m doing that is not for me. It’s for working people, because Labour is the only party that can beat Reform.”

Former deputy leader Angela Rayner is widely viewed as a potential leadership contender, with Health Secretary Wes Streeting likely to be her main rival within the parliamentary party.

But Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham would need to fight and win a by-election to become an MP to further his own leadership ambitions, meaning his supporters are wary of a quick contest to replace Starmer.

When asked this morning if her new decision to challenge Starmer is to prevent Burnham getting a chance, West said “not at all”.

“I think Andy should be part of the leadership team, and I would expect that any leader will want to appoint Andy, perhaps, to the House of Lords, because you could be a minister in the House of Lords, and he would make a fantastic contribution,” she said.

“Whether he can necessarily be the prime minister from the House of Lords, that would be very unusual.”

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‘He has lost the country’

In the latest sign that discontent with Starmer has gone beyond the usual critics on the Labour left, former minister Josh Simons called for him to go.

The Makerfield MP wrote in the Times: “Putting the people I represent and the country I love first, I do not believe the Prime Minister can rise to this moment.

“He has lost the country. He should take control of the situation by overseeing an orderly transition to a new prime minister.”

Meanwhile, John McDonnell, the former shadow chancellor under Jeremy Corbyn and a senior figure on the Labour left, urged West to back down from potentially triggering a quick contest or coronation for Starmer’s successor.

“We need to discuss how we go forward,” he said.

“I worry some in shadows want to exploit her concerns and bounce us before we have a proper democratic process.”

Richard Burgon, secretary of the Socialist Campaign Group of MPs on the left, also warned against West’s plan for a “Cabinet stitch-up” to replace the prime minister.

“I fear there’s a real danger that, whatever her good intentions, her move will be exploited by people on the right of the party who want a coronation and not a proper democratic contest in the party,” he said.

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