Starmer clings to post despite ministers' revolt
The lack of a consensus candidate keeps the British Prime Minister alive, despite the division between Labour factions worsening the chaos
London has been very clear. At this point, then, it is very difficult to say if the revolt of the According to various British press reports, the head of the Interior Ministry, Shabana Mahmood, and the Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper, have made it clear in recent hours that sustaining his leadership is impossible. The Justice Minister and number two in the executive, David Lammy, and the Defence Minister, John Healey, would also have spoken about his future. But the prime minister has been very clear. At this point, then, it is very difficult to say if the revolt of the backbench MPs will succeed.
in July 2024. Otherwise, with Starmer or any other The disconcerting political spectacle that Westminster is experiencing takes place less than twenty-four hours after Keir Starmer attempted to revive his leadership with a speech in which he assured that he would not abandon office to plunge the country into chaos. But both his leadership and his authority seem, at this point, mortally wounded, as a result of last week's electoral disaster, in the local elections in England and the regional elections in Wales and Scotland.
Starmer's closest allies had defined the decisive intervention of the prime minister this Monday as a reset of his government's action. But far from what his trusted men expected, the head of government's words were received with coolness by a significant number of deputies, who unleashed a continuous drip of calls for resignation or an orderly departure.
Starmer, however, already seems like a burnt-out leader. Beyond the names circulating to take over from him, the big debate that the Labour Party must face is about policies. Policies that correct the enormous inequalities that continue to affect large sectors of the British population, who believed in the change that Starmer promised two years ago and which led him
to win the elections
in July 2024. Otherwise, with Starmer or any other prime minister, Labour runs the risk of handing over the keys to power to Nigel Farage and the far-right in 2029. "If we don't do things right, our country will take a very dark path," the prime minister himself acknowledged in his failed speech.
The situation facing the government, and especially the prime minister, is utterly absurd, given that this Wednesday the State Opening of Parliament (the King's speech) is scheduled, the annual ceremony in which the monarch reads out the legislative agenda that the executive commits to advancing in the next 365 days. If Keir Starmer survives this Tuesday, as now seems to be the case, when Charles III utters the ritual words –"my government will make or promote…" –, many in Parliament will wonder which government he is talking about and whether it is united around its leader or not.
