Cabinet Members Prepare To Oppose Keir Starmers Leadership

Cabinet members are preparing to tell Keir Starmer later today that he must announce a timetable for his departure from Downing Street, HuffPost UK has been told.

Senior ministers will personally confront the prime minister within hours to say that he has got to go.

One Labour source said two-thirds of the cabinet are now opposed to him continuing as PM.

Some MPs who signed a so-called “loyalty letter” backing Starmer earlier this week are also now telling colleagues he has to stand down, it is claimed.

It comes amid confusion over whether or not health secretary Wes Streeting – who held showdown talks with Starmer yesterday – will announce his own leadership campaign.

Two members of his team told HuffPost UK that he does not currently have the support of the 81 MPs he needs to formally mount a challenge.

One ally said he did have more than the number required at one point, but that some of them have now peeled off.

A supporter said: “Wes has got the numbers, but things are shifting.”

An MP who is backing Streeting said: “I’m confident that Wes has got the numbers.

“Two-thirds of the cabinet have expressed privately that Keir can’t continue and were expecting them to go in to see him later today and tell him that he’s got to set out a timetable to go.

“There is increasing hope that he will realise that his time is up.”

But an ally of the prime minister, who has insisted he will fight any attempt to unseat him, insisted nothing had changed.

“The Labour Party rules are clear – if anyone has the numbers they can go to the party and say they want to challenge the leader,” the ally said. “That hasn’t happened.”

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