{"id":65733,"date":"2026-05-11T05:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T05:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/65733\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T05:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T05:44:10","slug":"if-cabinet-members-start-resigning-keir-starmer-is-probably-finished-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/65733\/","title":{"rendered":"If cabinet members start resigning, Keir Starmer is probably finished \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Like nooses, the concentric circles of Labour<\/a> MPs who admit they want Keir Starmer<\/a> gone get smaller and smaller, each getting closer to their leader as he flails in the centre. Soon he may struggle to breathe.<\/p>\n

This week the UK prime minister is \u2013 not for the first time \u2013 fighting for his political life. This is his toughest challenge yet. Starmer was due to dig his heels in at a London reset speech this morning, but the drumbeat of Labour grumblings only gets louder.<\/p>\n

Initially, in the immediate aftermath of last Thursday\u2019s disastrous (for Labour) elections, it was the usual suspects who called for Starmer to quit \u2013 the sort of recalcitrant, recidivist Starmer critics whom his allies could easily dismiss as the awkward squad.<\/p>\n

The first group included the likes of Norwich South MP Clive Lewis, a committed Corbynite <\/a>who was suspended last year for rebelling on welfare cuts. As far back as last September he was saying Starmer wasn\u2019t \u201cup to the job\u201d. By November he was calling for him to be replaced by the Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"GreaterGreater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham needs to be a member of the UK’s parliament before he can become prime minister. Photograph: Ryan Jenkinson\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Last week, as the tears were still rolling down the cheeks of the massed ranks of Labour\u2019s defeated, Lewis said Starmer needed to set out a timetable for his exit and the longer it was delayed, the worse it would be for Labour and Britain.<\/p>\n

In Starmer\u2019s world, a Lewis concentric circle is a vast one. But as last Friday wore on and the counting centres turned into Labour graveyards, the diameter of those circles began to narrow. John McDonnell, who was shadow chancellor under Jeremy Corbyn<\/a>, the regime that was vanquished by Starmer, said the Labour leader needed to put his party and country first and ask himself if he was capable of beating Nigel Farage.<\/p>\n

The outer howls of recrimination kept coming in, one by one, drip by astringent drip. Ian Lavery warned Starmer could \u201cend the party forever\u201d. Simon Opher, a doctor before he became a MP, made a devastating diagnosis of Starmer\u2019s value as leader: \u201cIf we go into the next election with him, we are going to get slaughtered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next up was Louise Haigh of Sheffield Heeley. She is seen as one of Labour\u2019s most capable MPs but, as a sacked former cabinet minister, also no friend of Starmer\u2019s. It is believed Haigh is now an outrider for Burnham, the politician that many Labour MPs want to return to Westminster to oust the prime minister. As leader of the Tribune grouping of soft-left Labour MPs, she wields significant influence.<\/p>\n

The circles narrowed further and the series of complaints began to resemble an organised campaign to pressure Starmer to quit.<\/p>\n

Cabinet members and Starmer\u2019s main rivals kept their counsel but then Catherine West, a sacked former foreign office minister, lobbed in a hand grenade that scorched the Burnham script. She warned that if someone more senior didn\u2019t challenge Starmer by Monday, she would try to spark a leadership campaign herself.<\/p>\n

Instead it sparked panic among Burnham\u2019s allies, who feared West would set off a leadership contest too early while he was still marooned in Manchester, unable to take part because he has yet to find a way of getting back to parliament \u2013 a byelection \u2013 as a MP. They have tried to rein her in.<\/p>\n

Then former Starmer loyalists joined in, the concentric circles of dissent shrinking ever further. Josh Simons, who used to run the Starmer-factory think tank Labour Together, said the prime minister had \u201clost the country\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer deputy Labour Party leader Angela Rayner said Keir Starmer was on his ‘last chance’. Photograph: Peter Byrne\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

Then Angela Rayner<\/a>, the former deputy prime minister and oft-touted leadership contender, suggested Starmer was on his \u201clast chance\u201d and he shouldn\u2019t block Burnham from coming back to parliament. That was tantamount to saying Burnham should replace Starmer, because everybody knows that\u2019s what the Manchester mayor\u2019s putative return would be all about.<\/p>\n

So now, whether Rayner is actually in the pro-Burnham camp or she just wants everyone on the Labour soft-left to think she is, knowing this might all be over before Burnham gets a chance to return to parliament, the succession game heats up.<\/p>\n

Then a serving minister, Miatta Fahnbulleh, retweeted Rayner\u2019s statement. Of all the circles of dissent, in its own understated way, this might be the tightest, narrowest and most difficult for Starmer so far: serving ministers are duty-bound not to criticise the government. Fahnbulleh\u2019s intervention could be viewed as a direct challenge.<\/p>\n

Does Starmer have the political capital to admonish her for it at the moment? Maybe, maybe not. Can he afford not to, as his dwindling authority circles the drain? Up to 40 Labour MPs have called on him to go.<\/p>\n

Starmer will attempt a fightback<\/a> on Monday with a speech, the centrepiece of which is a pledge to get closer to the European Union. \u201cA day late and a dollar short,\u201d said one seasoned observer of the Westminster scene.<\/p>\n

\"KeirKeir Starmer with former prime minister Gordon Brown on the steps of 10 Downing Street. Brown will be the PM’s special envoy on global finance, helping forge international co-operation, including with the European Union. Photograph: International Pool\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

If West\u2019s intervention fails, the prime minister\u2019s position might be safe for now. If it sparks a contest, he is probably toast \u2013 one or more of Rayner, Ed Miliband, Wes Streeting or other cabinet members would weigh in, before Burnham could take part.<\/p>\n

If cabinet members or ministers start resigning, then Starmer is also probably finished. That was how the end of Boris Johnson\u2019s time at Number 10 was hastened.<\/p>\n

It is also possible that Starmer limps on, for now. Until the summer? Perhaps. Until the next crisis? He seems to be running out of room for manoeuvre. Those circles of dissent keep shrinking, cramping his space. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Like nooses, the concentric circles of Labour MPs who admit they want Keir Starmer gone get smaller and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65734,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[126],"tags":[28914,10412,28757,264,31922,4018,271],"class_list":{"0":"post-65733","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-keir-starmer","8":"tag-andy-burnham","9":"tag-angela-rayner","10":"tag-jeremy-corbyn","11":"tag-keir-starmer","12":"tag-labour-party-uk","13":"tag-nigel-farage","14":"tag-uk"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116554358078557432","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}