{"id":952846,"date":"2026-05-11T15:16:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T15:16:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/952846\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T15:16:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T15:16:25","slug":"hamstrung-keir-starmer-issued-huge-warning-as-labour-vultures-circle-politics-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/952846\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Hamstrung’ Keir Starmer issued huge warning as Labour ‘vultures circle’ | Politics | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sir Keir Starmer<\/a> was accused of dodging the issue of Brexit<\/a> in a high-stakes speech aimed at saving his premiership as allies and rivals alike circled an increasingly embattled Downing Street operation. Following the Prime Minister<\/a>\u2019s address in Waterloo, Daily Express commentator Martyn Brown provided a frank analysis.<\/p>\n

Mr Brown said Mr Starmer had failed to confront the \u201ckey issue\u201d hanging over his Government\u2014Britain\u2019s future relationship with Europe\u2014while appearing \u201chamstrung\u201d politically as pressure mounted from within Labour<\/a> ranks. The Prime Minister delivered what Mr Brown described as a \u201cmake-or-break speech\u201d after catastrophic local election results, mounting backbench unrest, and growing speculation over possible successors.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/strong> Keir Starmer humiliated by GB News star with seven words in breaking update <\/a><\/p>\n

Read more:<\/strong> Brexit fury as ‘desperate’ Starmer drags Britain back into the heart of Europe <\/a><\/p>\n

\"Sir<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer gives his speech at the Coin Street Neighbourhood Centre (Image: James Manning\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n

\"Greater<\/p>\n

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham (Image: Getty)<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the Prime Minister’s precarious position, Mr Brown said: \u201cHe’s in major trouble, major trouble.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vultures are circling, there are major threats to his time in Number 10.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sir Keir attempted to reset his premiership with a 20-minute address in which he promised change, repeatedly attacking the \u201cstatus quo\u201d and portraying Labour as a government prepared to take radical action.<\/p>\n

Appearing without a tie or jacket, with \u201csleeves rolled up,\u201d the Prime Minister gave what Mr Brown described as a \u201ckind of passionate speech for Starmer,\u201d speaking personally about his family and praising his wife as \u201ca rock.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Mr Brown argued there was little substance behind the rhetoric. Doubting the impact of the address, he said: \u201cHe’s trying to convince Labour MPs, Labour supporters that he’s going to change things around. But there wasn’t that much evidence in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Angela<\/p>\n

Former Deputy PM Angela Rayner (Image: Getty)<\/p>\n

Mr Brown claimed the biggest policy announcement was a pledge to nationalise British steel, although he noted the proposal remained \u201csubject to a few hoops that it\u2019s got to jump through.\u201d He also pinpointed the most glaring omission from the speech: Brexit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Regarding the lack of clarity, Mr Brown said: \u201cAs I mentioned on Brexit, he didn’t really go there, to be honest.\u201d Explaining the Prime Minister’s hesitation, he continued: \u201cHe\u2019s a bit hamstrung because Europe won\u2019t let him do what he wants to do at this stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Prime Minister has repeatedly insisted he will not seek to reverse Brexit formally, but has also spoken about building closer ties with the EU ahead of a forthcoming UK-EU summit.<\/p>\n

Mr Brown argued Sir Keir was attempting to straddle both sides of the argument. Warning of a hidden agenda, he said: \u201cHe says he wants to put Britain at the heart of Europe. But we all know that he’s trying to unpick Brexit, and he won’t stop there. This is just the latest staging post for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Cabinet<\/p>\n

Wes Streeting is seen as increasingly influential (Image: Getty)<\/p>\n

The PM was also criticised for failing to explain how Labour would tackle Britain\u2019s economic problems or reduce welfare spending.<\/p>\n

Highlighting the lack of detail, Mr Brown said: \u201cHe didn’t really get into how he’s going to fix the economy other than saying that he’s going to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The speech came amid reports of growing unrest among Labour MPs after bruising local election losses in England, Wales, and Scotland. Mr Brown referred to threats of a leadership challenge from Labour backbencher Catherine West, claiming she was speaking for \u201c40-odd Labour MPs\u201d unhappy with the Prime Minister\u2019s direction.<\/p>\n

While he suggested the speech may buy Sir Keir time, he argued the long-term outlook remained bleak. Questioning the speech’s efficacy, Mr Brown stressed: \u201cI think it means he possibly survives today, maybe this week, but it’s not really done much to change the dial.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Dismissing the Prime Minister’s authority, Mr Brown said: \u201cThis is a Prime Minister who is, he\u2019s not in control anymore, he’s not in charge.\u201d Senior Labour figures including Angela Rayner<\/a>, Andy Burnham, Wes Streeting, and Ed Miliband were increasingly influential, he warned.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThey\u2019re all kind of calling the shots now.\u201d Attention is now turning to whether any of Labour\u2019s big beasts could move against the Prime Minister if his position deteriorates further.<\/p>\n

Mr Brown further suggested Mr Streeting \u201ccould go early\u201d in any leadership contest to block Mr Burnham, who is currently not an MP, from entering the race. Meanwhile, Sir Keir was said to have focused much of his political fire not on the Conservatives<\/a> but on rivals to Labour\u2019s Left and Right.<\/p>\n

Noting the shift in targets, Mr Brown said: \u201cHe didn’t really reference the Conservatives but he did reference Nigel Farage<\/a> and Zack Polanski and the Greens.\u201d<\/p>\n

As speculation over Labour\u2019s future intensifies, Mr Brown concluded: \u201cAs it stands at lunchtime on Monday, Keir Starmer<\/a> is still Prime Minister, but we don’t know how much longer for.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sir Keir Starmer was accused of dodging the issue of Brexit in a high-stakes speech aimed at saving…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":952847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,5322,748,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,807,203946,528,16,3106,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-952846","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-brexit-news","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-eu","12":"tag-europe","13":"tag-european","14":"tag-european-union","15":"tag-great-britain","16":"tag-keir-starmer","17":"tag-labour-leadership","18":"tag-labour-party","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-uk-politics","21":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116556608570468150","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=952846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/952846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/952847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=952846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=952846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=952846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}