“Like all prime ministers, I learned a lot”: Starmer fights to stay in office while dozens of MPs from his own party call for his resignation

Despite having significantly won the 2024 elections, the British public turned away from Starmer almost immediately after taking office

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is fighting to stay in office after his call for a “fresh start” following disastrous results in last week’s local elections was met with calls from dozens of MPs in his Labor Party for him to resign.

In a speech addressed to Labor supporters in London, Starmer said he took responsibility for heavy losses in England’s local councils and in elections to the parliaments of Wales and Scotland. However, he promised to remain in office, arguing that a change of leadership would plunge the United Kingdom into the “chaos” that, according to him, flourished under the Conservative Party, which removed two leaders in the two years before it came to power.

“What we witnessed with the last government was the chaos of constantly changing leaders, and that cost this country a lot,” Starmer said on Monday morning. “A Labor government would never be forgiven for imposing this on our country again.”

Yet by late Monday afternoon, the Labor Party seemed on the verge of doing precisely that. More than 70 Labor MPs have publicly called for Starmer to resign as prime minister or set a timetable for his departure, while several have abandoned roles as ministerial assistants. If Starmer chooses to leave or is removed, his successor would become the seventh British prime minister in a decade.

Despite having significantly won the 2024 elections, the British public turned away from Starmer almost immediately after taking office. Criticized by the right for his alleged inability to control illegal immigration, by the left for unpopular economic policies – and by many across the political spectrum for his lack of charisma and political vision – his position has been deteriorating for months.

The results of last week’s local elections – which saw the Labor Party lose more than 1,400 council seats in England and control of the Welsh parliament, where it had been the biggest political force for decades – appear to have convinced dozens of Labor MPs that Starmer is not capable of winning the next general election, scheduled for the summer of 2029.

Although Starmer has reiterated that he intends to continue, the party has mechanisms in place to remove him. His opponents need 81 signatures — the equivalent of a fifth of Labor MPs in Parliament — in support of a challenger to trigger an internal leadership election.

Unlike the Conservative Party, the Labor Party has no tradition of “regicide”; has never launched an official challenge to a sitting prime minister. When Tony Blair stepped down in 2007, partly due to internal divisions over the Iraq war, his designated successor, Gordon Brown, was elected unopposed to lead the government and the party.

This time, however, the scenario may be more turbulent. It’s unclear whether any of Starmer’s rivals have the signatures needed to move forward with a challenge, and many of the potential candidates lack experience or are embroiled in controversy.

Angela Rayner, a former deputy prime minister who resigned last year over property tax payment irregularities, has yet to formally announce a leadership bid despite being considered a strong contender. In a statement on Sunday, he called on Starmer to “meet the moment and define the change the country needs”.

In Monday morning’s speech, Starmer attempted to respond to that call. “Like all prime ministers, I learned a lot in the first two years in office in terms of the political changes our country faces. Incremental changes are not enough,” he said.

Starmer would not be the first leader to suffer disastrous local election results after two years in power and subsequently win a second term in a general election. Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher lost more than 1,000 council seats in the 1981 local elections, before winning the 1983 elections in a big way. Blair lost more than 1,000 seats in 1999, before securing a new majority two years later.

But if Starmer hoped that the promise of deeper changes would reverse this historic trend, the announced change was far from radical. The prime minister has promised to bring the United Kingdom closer to Europe after years of strained relations due to Brexit – a policy championed by Nigel Farage, leader of the radical right Reform UK party, which gained strength in last week’s local elections.

Asked about details of his vision for the United Kingdom’s relationship with Europe, Starmer limited himself to stating that he wants to take a “big leap forward” in a summit with the European Union this year.

For many Labor MPs, these responses reflect Starmer’s lack of ambition. As dozens of parliamentarians published letters calling for his departure, many pointed out the lack of a clear political vision.

By the end of Monday night, the pressure for Starmer’s resignation already included members of his government, not just bench deputies. The BBC said that the Minister of the Interior, Shabana Mahmood, is among several members of the executive who have asked for the definition of a timetable for the prime minister’s departure. The cabinet is due to meet in Downing Street on Tuesday morning.