{"id":27438,"date":"2026-05-11T22:56:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T22:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/27438\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T22:56:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T22:56:31","slug":"how-might-a-leadership-challenge-against-keir-starmer-play-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/27438\/","title":{"rendered":"How Might a Leadership Challenge Against Keir Starmer Play Out?"},"content":{"rendered":"

After disastrous elections for Labour in England, Scotland and Wales last week, the mood in Britain\u2019s governing party is so rebellious that calls have been growing for Prime Minister Keir Starmer to resign.<\/p>\n

Mr. Starmer, who won a landslide victory in 2024, has not only rejected that idea from some in his party, but, in an interview with the newspaper The Observer, also suggested he could stay in power for 10 years.<\/p>\n

In a speech on Monday, Mr. Starmer acknowledged discontent among his own lawmakers but vowed to fight<\/a> any challenge. \u201cI know I have my doubters, and I know I need to prove them wrong, and I will,\u201d he told an audience in London.<\/p>\n

One little-known Labour lawmaker, Catherine West, at the weekend called on the cabinet to mount a putsch against the prime minister, and warned that, if it failed to do so, she could attempt to trigger a leadership contest herself. But on Monday she retreated from that threat, saying instead that she would collect the names of colleagues willing to demand that Mr. Starmer set a timetable for his departure, with an election to succeed him in September.<\/p>\n

Britain has changed its prime minister five times in a little more than a decade. Could it happen again in the coming months?<\/p>\n

What could prompt a Labour challenge?<\/p>\n

The center-right Conservative Party has frequently replaced unpopular prime ministers, but its rules differ from those of the Labour Party, which has done this rarely. The last time was in 2007, when Tony Blair was forced out, but that was after he had spent 10 years in Downing Street, and he ultimately agreed to step aside.<\/p>\n

To trigger an election to replace the prime minister under Labour\u2019s rules, a challenger would need the support of 81 Labour lawmakers, 20 percent of Labour members of the national Parliament. Mr. Starmer would automatically be on the ballot, and the final decision would be taken by a much wider group of paying party members.<\/p>\n

It was never clear that Ms. West had the numbers in Parliament (she initially said she had just 10 lawmakers supporting her) and she did not present herself as a credible alternative prime minister. Her idea appeared to be to force the pace of change, either by prompting a cabinet rebellion or by flushing out other challengers and forcing them to make a run against Mr. Starmer.<\/p>\n

Ms. West still seems intent on pressing Mr. Starmer to quit, but appears to have amended the timetable to give challengers time to organize themselves.<\/p>\n

Could Mr. Starmer survive?<\/p>\n

Mr. Starmer\u2019s chances would depend on who challenged him. If the cabinet stayed loyal and no credible contenders broke cover, he could expect to thwart a challenge. In 2016, Jeremy Corbyn, then leader of the then-opposition Labour Party, survived a leadership contest with Owen Smith, who moved against him after lawmakers overwhelmingly backed a motion of no confidence in Mr. Corbyn over his stance on Brexit.<\/p>\n

In 1995, a Conservative prime minister confronted with internal feuding, John Major, precipitated a leadership election himself, and won it.<\/p>\n

Facing any sort of contest risks denting a prime minister\u2019s authority. In 1989, the Conservative prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, was challenged by Anthony Meyer, a political figure so little known that he was derided as a \u201cstalking donkey.\u201d Mrs. Thatcher won, but one year later, she was forced out.<\/p>\n

The appetite within Labour now for a change in leader before the next general election \u2014 which must come in mid-2029 or sooner \u2014 appears high, and with the right candidate, a challenge could succeed.<\/p>\n

Who are the possible contenders?<\/p>\n

The political momentum is with Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, in northern England, and the only senior Labour figure who seems significantly more popular with voters than Mr. Starmer, according to opinion polls. The snag is that he would have to win a seat in Parliament before mounting a challenge. Only a lawmaker can be Labour leader. Ms. West\u2019s suggestion of a September contest seems to benefit Mr. Burnham, giving him time to potentially compete in a special election for a British Parliament seat.<\/p>\n

In his absence, Angela Rayner, the former deputy leader, is probably the favored candidate of the left of the party. She resigned last year, however, over a tax imbroglio<\/a> that is still unresolved.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Ms. Rayner increased the pressure on Mr. Starmer by issuing a statement criticizing a \u201ctoxic culture of cronyism\u201d within Labour, warning that the party may be on its \u201clast chance.\u201d She also described a decision by party bosses this year to prevent Mr. Burnham from trying to run in a special election for Parliament as \u201ca mistake.\u201d That could suggest that Ms. Rayner would prefer to support a bid by Mr. Burnham to take over, rather than to challenge Mr. Starmer herself.<\/p>\n

Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has support on the right and is an effective communicator. But he has been damaged by links to Peter Mandelson, who was fired as Britain\u2019s ambassador to Washington when the depth of his friendship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was revealed. <\/p>\n

Other possible contenders include Ed Miliband, the energy secretary; Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary; Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary; and John Healey, the defense secretary.<\/p>\n

Why do some favor a delay?<\/p>\n

Most analysts say Mr. Starmer is so unpopular that he is unlikely to lead Labour into the next general election. But whether now is the right time to make a change is a different question.<\/p>\n

Mr. Burnham\u2019s supporters want to delay any challenge to give the Manchester mayor time to win the Parliament seat he needs to become a contender. Even some neutrals say it would make little sense to have a contest to replace Mr. Starmer without Mr. Burnham.<\/p>\n

Another reason for a delay could be the volatile global situation. While Mr. Starmer has made a succession of domestic policy errors, his handing of the Iran war has been popular with voters. The crisis in the Middle East has hit Britain\u2019s economic prospects, giving any potential successor prime minister a difficult inheritance.<\/p>\n

And while top opposition politicians have called on Mr. Starmer to quit, if he were to do so, they would point out that his successor had no mandate from the voters. Calls would grow for a snap general election, which Labour looks ill-prepared to fight right now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After disastrous elections for Labour in England, Scotland and Wales last week, the mood in Britain\u2019s governing party…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27135,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[16601,16603,16600,16599,16609,16607,286,8443,13360,8,16611,14215,13059,15692,12890,14083,16606,9,10867,16602,4585,16608,13058,16604,7,15697,16605,16598,16610],"class_list":{"0":"post-27438","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-stories","8":"tag-andrew-m-1970","9":"tag-angela-1980","10":"tag-burnham","11":"tag-catherine-1966","12":"tag-cooper","13":"tag-edward-s","14":"tag-elections","15":"tag-england","16":"tag-great-britain","17":"tag-headlines","18":"tag-healey","19":"tag-john-1960","20":"tag-keir","21":"tag-labour-party-great-britain","22":"tag-legislatures-and-parliaments","23":"tag-mahmood","24":"tag-miliband","25":"tag-news","26":"tag-politics-and-government","27":"tag-rayner","28":"tag-scotland","29":"tag-shabana-1980","30":"tag-starmer","31":"tag-streeting","32":"tag-top-stories","33":"tag-wales","34":"tag-wes","35":"tag-west","36":"tag-yvette-1969"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@news\/116558415962778372","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}