Is Keir Starmer’s Government About To Collapse?

Keir Starmer’s political future has never looked so uncertain.

The prime minister publicly lost the support of almost 100 MPs this week, including four ministers and four ministerial aides all of whom resigned and urged Starmer to set out a timetable for his departure.

Labour’s affiliated unions also called on him to quit.

And then on Thursday, health secretary Wes Streeting – who has never made any secret of his leadership ambitions – dramatically resigned with a ferocious attack on the PM.

He said: “Where we need vision, we have a vacuum. Where we need direction, we have drift.”

Other cabinet ministers have also told the prime minister privately that he must set out a timetable for his departure from Downing Street.

The chaos engulfing the government comes amid Labour fury at the party’s catastrophic performance in last week’s elections in England, Wales and Scotland.

A make-or-break speech by Starmer on Monday, which was supposed to set out his plan to turn around the government’s fortunes, was branded “utterly inadequate” by his critics.

After weeks of painful door-knocking with dissatisfied voters, the majority of Labour MPs now want Starmer gone – although they cannot agree on who should take over.

Starmer’s critics fear that sticking with him guarantees handing the next general election to Reform and Nigel Farage.

But the prime minister has made it clear he will not make it easy for his opponents to oust him, telling his cabinet on Tuesday to either put up or shut up.

Labour Party rules state that anyone seeking to oust the leader must have the backing of 20% of MPs, which currently works out at 81.

That’s a high bar, and as things stand no leadership contenders – including Streeting – have that level of support.

Meanwhile, Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, was given a path back to Westminster on Thursday when Labour MP for Makerfield Josh Simons stepped down.

But there’s no guarantee Burnham will win the subsequent contest, especially after Reform UK won 50.4% of the vote across the constituency’s eight wards in last week’s local elections.

Former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner threw a further spanner into the works on Thursday when she announced that had been given the all-clear by the tax man after she failed to pay enough stamp duty on a flat purchase.

While she has insisted she would not challenge Starmer directly, she made it clear she would be prepared to stand in any contest.

Speculation that other Labour figures such as energy secretary Ed Miliband, foreign secretary Yvette Cooper and even junior defence minister Al Carns might throw their hat into the ring also continues.

At this point, the whole of Westminster is on the edge of its seat to see who, if anyone, will wield the knife and directly challenge Starmer – with the right number of MPs to back them up.

Listen to Commons People as we dissect the chaos of the last week, what Labour figures are saying behind the scenes and try to predict what could happen next.

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