- More than 60 Labor MPs are reportedly calling for the UK Prime Minister to resign.
- Four government advisers resign amid growing pressure on Starmer’s leadership.
- The Prime Minister vows to “prove the skeptics wrong” after disastrous local election defeats.
UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy and many other senior Cabinet ministers have told British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to consider setting a timetable for his departure. The times the newspaper reported Monday.
The statement comes as pressure continues to mount on Starmer following the disastrous local and regional election results for the ruling Labor Party.
The report was published as Starmer vowed to prove his skeptics wrong and resist growing calls to resign after Labor suffered heavy losses in local and regional elections.
More than 60 of Labor’s 403 MPs reportedly called on him to resign, unconvinced by his promise to make the party “bolder and better” in response to voters’ frustration at the pace of change.
Among the rebels were four government assistants who resigned from their positions.
Joe Morris, who served as parliamentary private secretary to Health Secretary Wes Streeting, wrote in
Another aide, Tom Rutland, who worked for Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds, said Starmer had “lost authority” among Labor MPs and “will not be able to get it back”.
Melanie Ward, assistant to Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, also called for a change in leadership.
“Keir Starmer did important work to change the Labor Party, and governing in a time like this will never be easy,” he wrote in X.
“But the message from last week’s election was clear: the Prime Minister has lost the public’s trust to lead this change.”
Cabinet Office aide Naushabah Khan, who also resigned, said: “I am calling for new leadership so we can rebuild trust and deliver the better future the British people voted for.”
Under Labor Party rules, any opponent would need the backing of 81 MPs (20% of the parliamentary party) to trigger a leadership contest.
However, such a move could open a damaging infighting between the left and right factions of the Labor Party over a successor.
Starmer, 63, came to power in July 2024 after a landslide election victory ended 14 years of Conservative rule marked by austerity, Brexit infighting and criticism of the government’s Covid response.
But his tenure as prime minister has been marred by political missteps and controversies, including the fallout from the appointment and subsequent dismissal of Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to Washington after reports linked him to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
While Starmer has fought to revive economic growth and ease pressures on the cost of living, he has won praise for resisting US President Donald Trump over Iran.
Labour’s poor showing in last week’s election saw significant gains for the far-right Reform UK party and the left-wing Greens at Labour’s expense.
The party also lost control of the Welsh parliament transferred to Plaid Cymru for the first time since its creation in 1999 and failed to regain ground against the Scottish National Party in Scotland.
In a major speech Monday, Starmer acknowledged public frustration with politics, the state of the country and his own leadership.
“I know I have my doubters and I know I need to prove them wrong, and I will,” he said.
He promised “a broader response” rather than “incremental change” on issues such as economic growth, closer European ties and energy policy.
Starmer also pledged to fully nationalize British Steel and said Brexit had left Britain “poorer, weaker and less secure”.
He attacked the UK’s reformist leader, Nigel Farage, calling him a “chancellor” and a “conman” whose pro-Brexit campaign had taken Britain “for a ride”.
“If we don’t do it right, our country will go down a very dark path,” he warned.
After the speech, Labor MP Catherine West, who had previously threatened to spark a leadership challenge, said she was instead collecting names of MPs who wanted Starmer to announce a timetable for electing a new leader in September.
Starmer vowed to fight any challenge and warned that Labor would “never be forgiven” if it repeated the “chaos” of recent Conservative governments, which have had five prime ministers since 2010, including three in four months during 2022.
Health Secretary Streeting and former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner have long been seen as potential rivals, although neither has universal support within the Labor Party.
Rayner, while stopping short of demanding Starmer resign, said in a speech Monday: “What we are doing is not working and needs to change.”
