Labour In Chaos As Ministers Call For Keir Starmers Resignation

The Labour Party has descended into open warfare as Keir Starmer comes under enormous pressure to quit as prime minister after less than two years in the job.

Supporters of rival candidates turned their fire on health secretary Wes Streeting, who is expected to throw his hat into the ring if the PM announces his resignation.

Starmer will chair his regular weekly meeting of the cabinet this morning, a day after four of them – Shabana Mahmood, Yvette Cooper, John Healey and David Lammy – told him he has to go following Labour’s drubbing in last week’s elections.

Energy secretary Ed Miliband is also understood to have communicated to No.10 that the PM should go.

But loyalists including Steve Reed, Pat McFadden and Richard Hermer have urged the PM not to give in, despite the fact that nearly 80 Labour MPs have also called on him to set out a timetable for his departure from No.10.

Starmer insisted in a make-or-break speech on Monday that he would not “walk away” from Downing Street.

He is understood to have spent last night discussing with key supporters whether he should battle on.

But one Labour source told HuffPost UK: “The game is up. It’ll happen today.”

Soft-left MPs want any contest to be delayed until later in the year to give Andy Burnham the chance to be re-elected and MP so he can take part in it.

They believe that a quick contest benefits Streeting, who they accuse of manufacturing the current crisis.

One told HuffPost UK: “It would be utterly shameless for Wes to plunge the party into chaos. It would prove to the whole country that the only person he is interested in is himself. Now is not the time for a contest.”

Another senior Labour figure said: “Wes has spent six months doing every thing he could to bring down the Labour government while publicly denying it. Now everyone can see him for what he is: a self interested lizard.”

Another Labour source warned that any new prime minister would have to call a general election within months.

They said: “These turkeys are literally voting for a Christmas election. Good luck winning your seat in December Shabana, John, Yvette and Ed.”

A government insider added: “Message to rebels – if you break it you own it. Whatever comes next is their responsibility.”

Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the prime minister and one of Starmer’s key lieutenants, this morning dodged questions about whether he will quit.

He told Times Radio: “As any leader would, he’s talking and listening to those colleagues. I can’t get ahead of what the prime minister may or may not decide.”

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