United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer has sought to distance himself from an unofficial briefing to the media by unnamed “allies” that he intends to fight off a leadership contest which, they say, could come just 18 months into his premiership.
On Tuesday evening, unnamed sources were cited in The Guardian newspaper saying Health Secretary Wes Streeting has gathered significant backing to supplant Starmer.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
But on Wednesday morning, Streeting denied this, telling journalists that he was “not challenging the prime minister”.
“I’m not doing any of the things some silly briefer said overnight,” he stated.
Asked if those responsible for the briefing should be sacked, Streeting said, “Yes. But he’s [Starmer] got to find them first, and I wouldn’t expect him to waste loads of time on this.”
“There are people around the prime minister who do not follow his model and style of leadership,” he said.
In response to the ensuing media storm, Starmer, whose premiership since last year has been marred by poor polling, told reporters in north Wales on Thursday that briefings against ministers are “completely unacceptable”.
“I have been talking to my team today. I have been assured that no briefing against ministers was done from Number 10, but I have made it clear that I find it absolutely unacceptable,” he said.
The current internal party strife has shone a light on the prime minister’s standing as leader of the Labour Party.
In its most recent poll on Tuesday, pollster YouGov said of 4,989 people polled, only 27 percent thought he should continue as Labour Party leader.
Here’s what we know about the rumours of a leadership plot:
What are the rumours about a leadership challenge?
On Tuesday evening, unnamed senior Starmer aides told The Guardian newspaper that any attempt to remove the prime minister would be “reckless” and “dangerous”. According to the aides, deposing Starmer so early in his term as prime minister would undermine financial markets and reverberate on the stock market, the party and its international relationships.
“The party would not recover for a generation,” one of the unnamed sources told The Guardian.
Number 10 sources also told The Guardian they are concerned about rumours that Streeting could be planning a “coup” and is just one of several Labour ministers who are “on manoeuvres” to take the leadership if the opportunity arises. However, none of them were likely to move against the prime minister right now.
They said the most likely moment for a leadership challenge would be after the autumn budget – the government’s tax-and-spending review, due in parliament on November 26 – if higher taxes are announced, or after May elections next year if the Labour party performs poorly.
“Keir will not stand aside at this point, for Wes or anybody else,” one source told The Guardian.
On Friday, the UK’s Financial Times cited an unnamed minister who claimed that support for the health secretary was growing following the news of the unsanctioned “briefing”.
Streeting was not the only name mentioned as a potential leadership contender. Both Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Energy Secretary and a former leader of the Labour Party, Ed Miliband were named as possible contenders, the sources said.
Politics professor Nicholas Allen, from Royal Holloway University in London, explained that the briefing revealed “genuine concern, at least in some quarters, that Starmer is vulnerable”.
Could a coup against Starmer be successful?
Allen said it would be difficult to achieve a new leadership election because Labour Party rules state that a contender have the support of 20 percent of MPs to be nominated. This would be hard to do with party whips, which enforce a party consensus.
“I don’t know how strong Streeting’s support is,” Allen said. “He probably couldn’t force Starmer out by himself; what would be more likely is a collapse in support within the party, fuelled by low poll ratings and unforced errors (like the briefing), and Starmer deciding to step down or being encouraged to go by a group of senior ministers. At that point, the field would be open. Streeting may or may not be the perceived saviour,” he said.
Who briefed the press?
The British press is speculating that the unofficial briefing may have been organised by Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, as a tactic designed to put off any ministers thinking about challenging him.
McSweeney, who has been widely credited with helping Starmer to win the July 2024 election, is now facing calls to resign from unnamed members of parliament, according to reports.
However, Starmer appeared not to support such a move on Thursday when he reiterated that he “of course” has complete confidence in his chief of staff.
What do opposition parties say?
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch was quick to respond, accusing Starmer of losing control of his party during Wednesday’s Prime Minister’s Question Time.
Badenoch called Starmer a “weak prime minister at war with his own cabinet”.
“Two weeks before the budget, isn’t it the case that this prime minister has lost control of government, he’s lost control of his party and lost the trust of the British people,” she said.
Earlier in the debate, Badenoch referred to an interview Streeting gave to the BBC in which he accused Downing Street of having a “toxic culture”, and asked Starmer if his minister was correct.
“Any attack on any member of my cabinet is completely unacceptable,” Starmer said in response.
Meanwhile, the far-right Reform UK party’s head of policy, Zia Yusuf, wrote on X on Thursday that the “terrifying thing about the coup against Starmer is that Labour members will choose his replacement”.
“Their favourite Labour minister is Ed Miliband. Some of the most unhinged people in the country will choose the next Prime Minister,” he added.
Reform’s popularity has risen hugely in the UK since last year’s election.
How does the autumn budget fit into this?
The briefing came just two weeks before Starmer and his chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves, announced the autumn budget on November 26.
The budget, which outlines the government’s tax-and-spending plans for the next year, has been the subject of intense speculation in recent weeks, as it was widely expected to break one of Labour’s main election pledges: not to increase income taxes.
However, the Financial Times reported on Friday morning that Reeves is now ruling out any rise in income tax amid concerns that it could seriously anger voters and backbench legislators.
Why else is Starmer losing popularity in the UK?
Since winning the election in 2024, the prime minister has received backlash from across the political spectrum, including from Labour voters, over several issues.
According to a YouGov poll in September, if an election were to be called now, the far-right Reform UK would win, leaving the Labour Party as the second-largest party and the former governing party, the Conservatives, in third place.
Allen said the briefing could damage public perception of the Labour party further as it has revealed “a desire by some to engage in tribal fights with senior ministers” and that Starmer “doesn’t do politics very well, either in terms of surrounding himself with reliable people (if he didn’t know) or in terms of political judgement (if he did authorise it)”.
“It merely confirms what most voters probably already think: that the current Labour government and its prime minister aren’t all that good, or at least not significantly better than the Conservative government they voted out less than 18 months ago,” Allen said.
Here are some of the main areas of domestic policy which are causing the popularity of Starmer’s Labour Party to wane.
Migration
The opposition Reform UK party has risen in popularity largely on the back of its calls for stricter migrant control. The key issue is the rapid rise in the numbers of people arriving in small boats across the English Channel from France, particularly in the past year.
In September, Starmer struck a “one-in-one-out” migrant exchange deal with France in an effort to deter people from attempting the Channel crossing. Under the deal, France will accept the return of asylum seekers who crossed to the UK but cannot prove a family connection to the UK.
For each migrant France takes back, the UK will grant asylum to one person who has arrived from France through official channels and who can prove they have family connections in the UK.
But only a handful of migrants have been deported under the scheme so far. Furthermore, on Monday, the Home Office reported that a second migrant had re-entered the UK after being deported to France.
Rise of the far-right
Starmer has faced criticism for his lukewarm response to the rising number of far-right protests across the country.
In September, at least 11,000 people joined a “Unite the Kingdom” march, displaying the St George flag in London.
While Starmer denounced violence against police officers during the protests and argued that the UK was “built on diversity”, the antifascist group, Hope Not Hate, and several MPs have urged the government to take stronger action against the rise of far-right groups.
Critics also say Starmer has not done enough to appeal to people who support Reform, or to address their concerns about migration.
Accidental prison releases
In a major blunder, HMP Wandsworth prison in London wrongly released two offenders in early November, including an Algerian sex offender.
Both men were eventually returned to prison but, in the case of the Algerian offender, only after the man handed himself in. Conservative Party shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said the mistake revealed “the incompetence of this government”.
Economy
Starmer has been grappling with a low-growth economy since the start of his term in government.
According to new figures from the Office for National Statistics on Thursday, between July and September, the UK’s gross domestic product (GDP) increased by just 0.1 percent in comparison with growth of 0.3 percent between April and July.
Source: Aljazeera
Leave a Reply