At least 81 members of the United Kingdom’s Labour Party including Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, have publicly called for Prime Minister Keir Starmer to either resign or set a timetable for his departure.
The figures are 20 percent of the party’s 403 MPs, the threshold needed to trigger a leadership contest. It is the most serious internal threat yet to the prime minister from within his own ranks.
But Starmer has remained defiant.
“The past 48 hours have been destabilising for government and that has a real economic cost for our country and for families,” the prime minister told cabinet on Monday.
“The Labour Party has a process for challenging a leader and that has not been triggered.
“The country expects us to get on with governing. That is what I am doing and what we must do as a cabinet.”
Pressure on Starmer has been soaring since Labour suffered disastrous local election results last week, losing hundreds of councillors to the hard-right Reform UK party and left-wing populist Greens.
The party also lost its century-old dominance in Wales and were hammered by the Scottish National Party in the devolved parliament in Edinburgh.
The results added to a miserable few months for Starmer who has been engulfed in scandal over his decision to appoint, and then sack, Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US. Mandelson was a former friend of Jeffrey Epstein, sex offender.
Earlier this year, Starmer fended off calls to quit over his decision to appoint Mandelson.
The prime minister has also faced criticism over a failure to revive the economy, leaving British citizens to grapple with a high cost of living.
Wes Streeting, health secretary, and Angela Rayner, former deputy PM, are seen the most likely replacements for Keir among Labour MPs.
Source: The Cable
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