Keir Starmer’s premiership is hanging by a thread following Labour’s disastrous performance in the local elections.

A growing body of MPs are calling for the prime minister to resign, less than two years into the role, but Starmer is digging in.

With no clear successor putting their head above the parapet for the mutinous party to rally behind, MPs are in limbo.

So what might happen next? Here’s what you need to know.

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How Did We Get To This Point?

Starmer became prime minister in July 2024 after Labour won a landslide victory in the general election.

But within weeks, his government was plunged into crisis by the decision to scrap winter fuel payments for 10 million pensioners and a row over free clothes and hospitality accepted by Starmer and other senior Labour figures.

A series of messy U-turns on things like the two-child benefit cap, digital ID and the farmers’ inheritance tax also led to the prime minister’s approval rating plummeting.

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The controversy over his decision to make Peter Mandelson the UK’s ambassador to Washington also helped push the PM’s unpopularity to new depths.

In Labour’s biggest electoral test since the 2024 election last week, voters overwhelmingly rejected the party in England, Scotland and Wales – triggering further anger towards the PM from the party’s MPs.

More than 50 of then have called on Starmer to stand down following the devastating bloodbath.

What Might Happen Next?

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It’s incredibly hard to predict exactly what happens next, especially Labour Party makes it difficult to oust the party’s leader.

But here are the options MPs are considering, as of Monday…

A Labour MP Challenges Starmer

Under the party’s rules, a challenger needs the backing of at least 20% of Labour MPs to trigger a leadership contest. That currently works out to 81 MPs.

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Even then, the sitting leader would automatically be put on the ballot paper.

Former Foreign Office minister Catherine West stunned Westminster on Saturday by announcing she would challenge the PM if the cabinet did not choose someone to replace Starmer.

But by Monday she had backed down, instead calling for MPs to sign a letter urging Starmer to set out a timetable to allow him to be replaced by September.

Among others thought to be weighing up a leadership bid are former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner and health secretary Wes Streeting.

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A Labour MP Stands Aside For Andy Burnham

Starmer’s other major opponent is the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham.

However Burnham left Westminster in 2017 and would have to become an MP again in order to stand.

Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC), blocked him from running as the party’s candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election in February – at the behest of Starmer.

On Thursday, Labour MP Josh Simons announced he agreed to stand down from his Makerfield seat to make way for the Greater Manchester mayor, less than two years after being elected.

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However, there are no guarantees Burnham would win the subsequent by-election.

His decision to stand would also trigger a mayoral contest in Greater Manchester – which could give rival parties another chance to hammer Labour at the ballot box.

Wes Streeting mounts leadership challenge

Wes Streeting will definitely run in the upcoming Labour leadership contest, his allies have told HuffPost UK.

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It is the first confirmation that he plans to mount a bid to replace Keir Starmer as prime minister.

Starmer Agrees To Step Down As MP Backlash Mounts

As the number of MPs calling on him to resign rises, the PM could decide he doesn’t need the hassle and announce he is quitting.

However, he has insisted he “won’t walk away” from the job, and in an interview with The Observer insisted he still planned to be prime minister for 10 years.

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Starmer Clings On

With the PM’s opponents apparently racked with indecision about what to do next, there is a world in which he rides out his latest leadership crisis.

In his make-or-break speech on Monday setting out how he plans to turn around Labour’s fortunes, Starmer said: “I know that people are frustrated by the state of Britain, frustrated by politics, and some people – frustrated with me.

“I know I have my doubters and I know I need to prove them wrong, and I will.”

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Subscribe to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.

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James Bond bosses have shared an update on the search for the next 007 – and unfortunately, it sounds like we might still be in for a bit of a wait.

And while recent rumours indicated that Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Callum Turner and Jacob Elordi were all in the running, it seems that production company Amazon MGM Studios is still a little way off casting anyone.

On Friday morning, the studio shared an “update on the search for the next James Bond”, confirming that the casting process has only just begun.

“The search for the next James Bond is underway. While we don’t plan to comment on specific details during the casting process, we’re excited to share more news with 007 fans as soon as the time is right,” a spokesperson said.

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A press release noted that work has been underway on the film “has been taking shape over the past several months”, albeit without a leading man.

Eon/Danjaq/Sony/Kobal/Shutterstock

Last month, Amazon MGM Studios’ head of film Courtenay Valenti told fans: “I know you’re all wondering when we’re going to announce who’s playing James Bond.

“Please know that we’re taking the time to do this with care and deep respect. It is the dream of a lifetime for all of us to bring audiences this next chapter, and it’s a responsibility we don’t take lightly.”

It was already confirmed that Oscar nominee Denis Villeneuve, who has recently enjoyed huge success with his Dune movies, will be on directing duties, while the script has been penned by Steven Knight.

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Steven Knight is best known as the creator of Peaky Blinders, but has also helmed shows like A Thousand Blows for Disney+ and House Of Guinness for Netflix.

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It is estimated that each year there are 4,400 new cases of someone sustaining a spinal cord injury (SCI). For these people, it is crucial they receive specialist treatment not only when they are first injured, but also as they embark on their journey living with such complex disabilities.

Careful monitoring

Why SCI are such complex injuries is they involve damage to the spinal cord or nerves. This can often result in life-changing issues with a loss of sensory and motor function below their injury causing problems such as paralysis, breathing issues, and loss of bowel/bladder control.

This means such patients need careful monitoring from one of the 12 Spinal Cord Injuries Centres (SCIC) based across the country. These centres of excellence monitor SCI patients and can be accessed whenever there is a problem.

This is part of the NHS National Strategy for Spinal Cord Injuries:

The service provides care to people who have sustained an injury to the spinal cord as a result of injury or disease. It encompasses acute care following the injury, surgical or non-surgical stabilisation of the spine, rehabilitation and reintegration into the community, life-long follow-up of people living with spinal cord injury, and further admission if necessary for medical or surgical management. Ventilation is provided to people with higher level injuries.

The service provides a wide range of services to meet the special needs of people with spinal cord injury, including urology, respiratory, psychology, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, sexual and fertility advice, reintegration planning, and the management of spasticity, pressure ulcers and other complications.

‘Keep it together’

But this National Strategy is under threat, as the current plan is to move away from a national approach to local Integrated Care Boards (ICB) in 2027.

Such a move could lead to concerns about a postcode lottery and the loss of both specialist staff and centres. It is why, on Friday 15 May 2026, which is Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Day, the message was:

keep it together.

Cross-party MPs have also warned that these proposals by NHS England to move spinal cord injury services from national to local commissioning risks taking care “in the wrong direction”, directly contradicting recommendations from a major parliamentary inquiry.

Building a National SCI Strategy

The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Spinal Cord Injury raised the alarm in a meeting with Public Health Minister Sharon Hodgson MP, following publication of its report, From Fragmented to Coordinated: Building a National Spinal Cord Injury Strategy.

The report calls for greater national coordination, consistent standards, and long-term system reform. This is in direct contrast to the NHS proposals that would shift responsibility to Integrated Care Boards (ICBs).

The Spinal Injuries Association (SIA) have also sent an open letter signed by nearly 100 signatures, including 6 Spinal Cord Injury Centres to the (now former) Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, urging the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and Parliament to ensure that spinal cord injury services remain within national specialised commissioning.

The immediate concern of moving from a national service to community services is patients are at risk of a ‘postcode lottery’. This is because those patients who already live in an area that has strong local services will fare much better than those living in more remote areas or where services have been depleted due to the harsh austerity years.

Kayles’ story

Kayles is one of those patients where her geographical area means there were no local specialist services available to her when she sustained her SCI due to a slipped disc. She lives in Tavistock, so attended her local hospital, where her pain was dismissed by doctors.

Fighting to get the right diagnosis of SCI took Kayles six long months with a further 16 months waiting to get referred to the SCIC in Salisbury.

Kayles said:

The fact is we don’t have that many hospitals down here that can deal with any spinal cord injured patients. This is the area we live in. We have cobblestones, no dentist, and after they shut half the hospitals, the hospitals are overwhelmed.

There is also concern about losing specialist doctors and nurses.

Shirley’s story

Shirley has been receiving specialist care through her nearest SCIC for degenerative cervical myelopathy. Shirley has valid concerns regarding the move from specialist care from the SCIC to being community based.

She said:

My worry is, if you bring it to a more community-based thing, you’re diluting knowledge. When you’ve got people in centres of excellence, they’ve got access to a huge multidisciplinary team. They’re geared up for anything that comes through the door.

Shirley thinks this level of collaboration will be lost if there’s a move to the community and that will be to the detriment of patients.

She said:

That’s why you need to hang on to the centres of excellence because you need them to actually set the standards for care that everyone in the NHS or Health & Social Care professions or private sector should all be following.

Shirley also argued that the lack of district nurses has had a knock-on impact on the quality of everyday nurses in the community. Such staff are more likely to be health care assistants or carers in the social care sector.

But if these plans go ahead, it will need specialist nurses who can look after patients with SCI otherwise there’s a danger they can ‘do more harm than good.’

Doing more harm than good

That phrase doing more harm than good will resonant with many of those who have SCI. Patients with a SCI who had been an in-patient of a local hospital, an environment not equipped for them, found the lack of knowledge left them exposed to poor care.

In the community, it can be very scary when specialist treatment is required but the carers have sparse knowledge about SCI and how to carry out this care.

This lack of knowledge across the whole of the UK, with the need for services to remain nationally coordinated, is one of the reasons why the National Strategy of 2013 needs updating. The Spinal Injuries Association produced a National Strategy 2030 to give guidance to policy leaders in both the government and NHS. It can be read here.

But such a national strategy is at risk of being ignored if the move to ICB happens. The NHS argument is that transferring from national commissioning to local and regional ICBs in April 2027 is intended to support a better integration of NHS services within an area.

The SIA said:

We have serious concerns that transferring commissioning responsibility to ICBs could place Specialist Spinal Cord Injury Centres at further risk of underfunding if highly specialised SCI service deprioritised within local commissioning systems.

This concern from SIA about the underinvestment in the current specialist spinal centres is borne out from what patients have reported, such as a ‘slippage’ in standards, a lack of capacity, resulting in delays, and the decline in the general upkeep of these centres.

A backward step

It will be such a backward step to lose these centres of excellence and the national oversight of both the care of patients and patients themselves.

With concerns about a possible postcode lottery, losing specialist staff, and the underinvestment and demise of these spinal units, the major concern is what becomes of the care for these complex patients if the plans happen.

For patients now, they feel there is a system that ‘has their back’ to help them achieve what they want to achieve, safe in the knowledge they have this support, not just from their nearest SCIC, but a national strategy that underpins their care.

Losing this for such complex patients will put them at risk.

Featured image via the Canary

By Ruth Hunt

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On May 14th, Jerusalem Day, which marks the reunification of the city under Israeli rule in the 1967 Six-Day War, local Israeli media reported, like the Times of Israel and +972 Magazine, chanted slogans of “death to Arabs” and “may your villages burn” during the nationalist Flag March.

Thousands marched through Jerusalem today for the annual Flag Day, with National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir among them. The march was marked by participants chanting anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian slogans.

: Oren Ziv, Charlotte Ritz-Jack, and Standing Together pic.twitter.com/Yo2KMlHeQG

— +972 Magazine (@972mag) May 14, 2026

An Israeli journalist posted footage of his phone being covered by the right-wing mob at the march as they sang “death to Arabs.”

Before the official Jerusalem Day Flag March, religious Zionist youth chant “death to Arabs,” try to cover up my phone camera lens.

The Old City is largely empty aside from extremist youth and reporters. Palestinian residents have locked themselves inside their homes pic.twitter.com/LyNYBcG9uA

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— charlie summers (@cbsu03) May 14, 2026

Another Israeli journalist complained about being trapped by mobs during the march.

Israel, after all, does have a penchant for disdain for journalists

2024 and 2025 were the deadliest years for journalists worldwide since the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) began documenting these cases in 1992. In both years, Israel was responsible for 70% of the recorded deaths, according to the organization. In addition to the 264 journalists who were killed, 174 were wounded and 106 imprisoned since the start of the war in Gaza.

The annual assertion of Jewish control over Palestinian East Jerusalem has grown more extreme in recent years, the Guardian reported.

Jerusalem Day brings out Zionist monsters Gvir and Smotrich

Israeli politicians were also marking the day with their usual genocidal tactics.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir stormed the Al-Aqsa compound under heavy military protection during the day to wave the Israeli flag.

Meanwhile, finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called to annex the entirety of the West Bank during a speech at a Jerusalem Day rally on Thursday night.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich calls to annex all of the West Bank, citing the approval of 60,000 new housing units and plans to erase Areas A, B, and C, at a Jerusalem Day address. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir calls to settle Lebanon.https://t.co/zVVdaMFcNy

— The Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) May 15, 2026

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These genocidal slogans and actions continue unabated, with full backing and encouragement from Western governments

Featured image via X/Quds News Network

By The Canary

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Luke Humphries arrived in Birmingham with his Premier League campaign wobbling. Five weeks earlier he sat seventh and staring at elimination.

By the end of Night 15 he had not only won his first weekly title of the season but also clinched a place at Finals Night in London with a week to spare. The turnaround was emphatic. Humphries beat Stephen Bunting, Luke Littler and Gerwyn Price in succession. As a result, he sealed qualification and momentum.

The numbers don’t lie

Humphries didn’t scrape through, he dominated. Across the quarter-final, semi-final and final he posted averages of 107.36, 110.98 and 100.16 respectively. This sequence underlined a late-season peak in scoring and finishing. Those three ton-plus nights in a row are the kind of form that turns a nervous title defence into a genuine threat.

There’s a difference between form and timing. Humphries’ run reads like a player who has deliberately dialled his game back in and is peaking at the right moment. After changing equipment and tweaking his routine mid-season, he has produced the kind of composed, clinical performances that make the O2 final look reachable again. The comeback from seventh to the top four wasn’t accidental. Instead, it was a sustained response under pressure.

Moments that swung the night

The semi-final against Luke Littler was the pivotal moment. Littler had two darts at double 10 to lead 4-0 and effectively put Humphries on the ropes. He missed, and Humphries rattled off six legs in a row to flip the match. That swing, from near-defeat to control, is the hallmark of a player who can handle Finals Night intensity. The final against Gerwyn Price was tighter, but Humphries closed it out 6-4. Therefore, the Birmingham run wasn’t a flash in the pan.

With the top four now confirmed. Luke Littler, Jonny Clayton, Gerwyn Price and Luke Humphries. The only remaining question is seeding and who avoids whom in the semis. Humphries’ late surge gives him two advantages: form and psychological edge. He arrives in London battle-hardened and confident. As a result, opponents must now plan for a Humphries who has rediscovered his scoring rhythm and finishing touch.

Short, sharp verdict

Is he timing his title defence to perfection? The record speaks for itself. Humphries has engineered a peak when it counts, converting pressure into performance. He has turned a season that looked in jeopardy into a genuine title defence. If he carries this Birmingham form to the O2, he won’t just be defending, he’ll be hunting.

Humphries’ Night 15 was more than a win, it was a statement. Timing, momentum and a late-season scoring surge have shifted the balance. As a result, the Premier League title race just got a lot more interesting.

Featured image via the Canary

By Faz Ali

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Thugs in uniform in Copenhagen, Denmark, have viciously attacked peaceful protestors at the offices of criminal shipping giant Maersk. In a video posted on the Arbejderen Instagram account on 14 May, heavily armoured goons can be seen smashing their batons into people lying in the foetal position.

The cowards also rely on dogs to terrorise the anti-genocide campaigners who clearly pose no threat. The legal aid group Ulydig Retshjælp (Disobedient Legal Aid) said:

There are reports of several broken bones and huge bruises after being manhandled by the Danish police officers who quickly arrived at the scene both in uniform and in plain clothes.

The protest formed part of the Mask Off Maersk campaign. Their target is the genocide-enabling Danish shipping and logistics company which, as Mask Off Maersk writes on its website, is:

involved in all aspects of the supply chain of genocide — bringing military cargo to arms companies for assembly and shipping cargo to Israel from the US.

Maersk: a key facilitator of genocide

The company is heavily involved in the supply chain for:

…the Namer Armored Personnel Carrier (APC-MT883), which has been used extensively in the ongoing aggression against Gaza. Another supply chain is that of the Oshkosh Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles, with Maersk helping fulfill part of the supply chain related to a $159 million foreign military sale to Israel from the U.S. Department of Defense.

It also has a key role in shipping parts for the F-35 warplane that has been the backbone of the Zionist entity’s mass murder across West Asia. Disobedient Legal Aid say Maersk is:

…single-handedly responsible for the greatest number of weapons shipment to the Israeli apartheid state.

The protestors in Copenhagen were attempting to block the front doors to the company headquarters. Activists had previously staged a spectacular action in 2025, in which up to 1000 people burst through security lines to take over the premises. On this occasion, it seems a much smaller group was present, but that didn’t stop massive police over-reaction. From Arbejderen:

One might almost believe that the police were put on this earth to defend capital interests; it was impressively fast how they managed to summon up to 100 officers to remove the peaceful activists who had reached the entrance and the square, while others stood on the pavement.

It is the defence of capital that police were created for, and that remains their purpose today. If they actually cared about upholding the law, they’d have entered the Maersk offices a long time ago and hauled all their executives off to the cells for their participation in war crimes. Instead, such criminals remain unmolested, while those fighting to uphold the Genocide Convention their own government signed are beaten senseless.

It isn’t far-fetched for corporate reprobates to be dragged into the dock, if the political will exists. The Spanish government has been better than most in their stance towards the ‘Israel’ land theft project, and put steel executives before a judge for trading with the Tel Aviv terrorists.

Law group says cops’ “extreme violence” was illegal

Arbejderen continued:

The officers didn’t hold back. Even Arbejderen – a journalist with a visible press pass – first felt the baton and later tasted the tarmac while I attempted to cover how 20 activists were zip-tied and lined up before being driven to the station.

Denmark is doing its bit to break down the facade of Scandinavian countries being upholders of human rights. As Jacobin reported in June 2025:

When asked whether Denmark would assist in evacuating any of the 4,500 Gazan children in urgent need of medical treatment, the Danish government refused — citing an assessment by the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET), which deemed medical evacuations of children from Gaza a potential security risk. To date, this assessment remains unpublished and unexplained.

The country has not yet recognised Palestine, lagging even behind Britain, with the latter’s appalling record on assisting genocide.

You wouldn’t need to be an expert in law to know it, but Disobedient Legal Aid say the:

…acts of extreme violence committed by the police, such as the use of batons, and severely stressed out dogs against the demonstrators, is clearly illegal.

They are encouraging anyone involved to document injuries and report them to the organisation for potential legal action against the brutes in uniform doing ‘Israel’s’ bidding. The Mask Off Maersk campaign encourages email campaigns, phone jams and leafleting to pile pressure on this key cog in the machinery of genocide.

Featured image via the Canary

By Robert Freeman

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