Louise Haigh today became the first Labour grandee to (publicly) suggest Sir Keir Starmer should head for the door. The backbench powerbroker presented the prime minister with an ultimatum, urging him to make a sharp turn left or set out a timetable for exiting so someone else – read: Andy Burnham – can. The leader of the soft-left Tribune group told ITV:
I think what is abundantly clear, is that unless the government delivers significant and urgent change, then the prime minister cannot lead us into another election.
Haigh’s intervention triggered a flurry of others from the great and good of the Labour backbenches. Sarah Owen, chair of the Commons women and equalities committee, warned Sir Keir that ‘Unless Keir Starmer delivers tangible change and truly connects with the public on a human level, he can’t lead us into another election (locally or nationally)’.
Another to pile in was the MP Anneliese Midgley, who told the Guardian: ‘The results here and across the North are beyond our worst expectations. It’s truly devastating.
‘Unless that changes significantly and quickly it’s clear the prime minister can’t lead us into another election.’
Calls for Sir Keir’s head have now truly extended beyond the Corbynite usual suspects and into the mushy left. Any Blairite hope of standing firm on Shabana Mahmood’s immigration reforms and tackling that minor issue of the exploding welfare bill is looking increasingly difficult, to put it mildly.
With that said, the Blue Labour lot and those more concerned about the threat of Reform aren’t going down without a fight. Red Wall stalwart Dan Carden can’t have been too far of the mark when he quipped:
‘Britain’s working and lower middle class communities aren’t just voting Reform. They’re rejecting politics as usual. The lanyard class. A Labour Party they see as run by and for progressive elites – not working men and women. We have to be honest enough to hear it.’
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