KEIR Starmer is on borrowed time and a key rival is waiting in the wings ready to strike the fatal blow.
The under-fire PM has just days left in power, The Jattvibe’s top political columnist Trevor Kavanagh told a special episode of Never Mind the Ballots tonight.
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Keir Starmer is on borrowed time, The Jattvibe’s ex-political editor has revealed Credit: Reuters
The Jattvibe’s Editor-at-Large Harry Cole returned for a special episode of The Jattvibe’s Never Mind the Ballots
Four ministers have so far quit government and demanded the PM resign.
And, as an astonishing day in politics unfolded, The Jattvibe’s Editor-at-Large Harry Cole returned to analyse the drama on our flagship political show.
Outlining the PM’s fate, Kavanagh said Keir would be unlikely to last beyond the weekend.
PLOT POINTS
What is a vote of no confidence? How many Labour MPs are needed to oust Starmer
PLOT POINTS
The MPs who have called for Keir Starmer to resign and what ministers have said
The Jattvibe’s Political Editor Jack Elsom joined Harry on the show
Wes Streeting is waiting in the wings, ready to strike Credit: PA
You can watch the special episode of Never Mind the Ballots in our new video hub or on our YouTube channel here.
He said: “When Starmer goes, which he will do, and I would predict that the writing is on the wall before this weekend, one way or another.
“I think Wes Streeting will strike, and I think that he will get the numbers and he has to do it.”
The forerunners appear to be Streeting, former Deputy PM Angela Rayner and Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham – who was recently blocked from a Parliamentary comeback.
Kavanagh said on the show: “He’s got no choice. I mean, Jack made the very good point that he has to follow the example not of David Miliband, who faltered at the last moment, but Margaret Thatcher, who struck, stabbed the knife into Ted Heath and went on to glory.
Stubborn Starmer is holding firm… but as more more ministers look set to quit, how long can he limp on?
By Jack Elsom, Political Editor
THINGS are moving very fast, so there’s a chance that by the time you finish reading this it could all be out of date.
But right now Sir Keir Starmer is squatting in Downing Street and refusing to leave, no matter how many of his MPs want him to do so.
He told his Cabinet that because nobody has openly challenged him there was no point dwelling on the 80-strong mutiny banging down his door.
Yet imperilled leaders always say they’re not quitting right up until the moment when they do – they have no choice.
Starmer – stubborn at best, naive at worst – was never going to make it easy for his would-be rivals.
The question is whether he can limp on severely wounded or is just bleeding too many MPs and ministers.
Three ministers have now resigned, including the high-profile Jess Phillips who is responsible for women and girls.
Her excoriating resignation letter is one of the most damning of any I have ever read covering politics.
It accuses him of failing to deliver on his promises over safeguarding and tears into him over the Mandelson scandal.
That the minister for women and girls is accusing the PM of welching on his flagship pledges will be horrific reading for female Labour MPs.
And right on cue, within the hour Victims Minister Alex Davies-Jones also resigned in a likely coordinated strike.
More will follow in the coming hours.
But so long as the revolt is contained to backbenchers and junior ministers, Starmer will fight it.
The plotters need a Cabinet Minister to resign, or one of the leadership rivals to call time on Keir.
The questions I’m asking right now are:
Where is the Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who has been suspiciously quiet as her allies go over the top?
What is Wes Streeting’s next move – and will he throw caution to the wind by demanding Starmer resigns?
And what is Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham doing all the way in London on a day like this…
“He knows that, and he knows that if he doesn’t, if he leaves it any longer, Andy Burnham could win a seat.
“And then he’s got a long wait before he gets his chance to put his case for it.
“The big risk is that he successfully launches a leadership campaign with his 81 plus supporters, and is the only person who can fight him really, because Angela Rayner is still under this tax cloud.”
Earlier today, the PM vowed to fight on after telling a tense Cabinet meeting he would not resign.
He effectively challenged rebels to move against him through Labour’s formal leadership rules.
But his defiance was met with a string of resignations.
Zubir Ahmed – a close ally of Streeting – is the latest to walk out just hours after three other frontbenchers turned on the PM.
In a stinging resignation letter, the Health Minister warned the public had “irretrievably lost confidence” in Keir and said his leadership had become “wholly untenable”.
Before him, Alex Davies-Jones resigned as Justice Minister and warned Labour’s election losses across Britain and Wales had been “catastrophic”.
It came after Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips stepped down – plunging the PM into further crisis.
In one of the most stinging resignation letters our Political Editor has ever seen, Phillips said she could no longer serve “under the current leadership” and accused No10 of lacking the “fight and drive” needed to force through reform.
