Labour would be “consumed” by chaos if a leadership contest to replace Sir Keir Starmer were triggered, one of his key Cabinet allies has warned.
The Prime Minister is under intense pressure from within his own party, after a series of seismic political moves by challengers to his premiership on Thursday.
Andy Burnham was offered a path back to Parliament when a Labour MP stood down, triggering a by-election which the Greater Manchester Mayor hopes to contest.
Wes Streeting, meanwhile, resigned as health secretary, but stopped short of launching an immediate leadership challenge, instead calling for “the best possible field of candidates” to be lined up first.
Former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner revealed that she had been cleared by HMRC of deliberate wrongdoing over her tax affairs, clearing the path for a potential tilt at the top job.
Speaking on Friday morning, Housing Secretary Steve Reed warned his colleagues against triggering a leadership contest against Sir Keir, and claimed the party would follow the Conservatives in suffering further woes at the ballot box if one took place.
He told Sky News: “You don’t have to imagine what would happen, because we just have to look back at what the Conservatives did.
“I think over the eight years between 2016 and 2024 we had nine education secretaries, seven chancellors of the exchequer, and five prime ministers, and it led to their worst election result in 200 years.”
Labour did “badly” in last week’s local polls in England, and in devolved elections in Wales and Scotland, Mr Reed conceded, but added: “The Conservatives went further back from that dreadful general election result. Do we really want that to be our future?
“We’re in power. We were sent here by the British public to deliver change. We promised the fastest growing economy in the G7, this first quarter this year. We’ve done it.
“We promised to cut NHS waiting lists. Yesterday we saw the biggest monthly fall for 18 years.
“Why would we throw that away to engage in the chaos that consumed the Conservatives?”
Mr Reed also acknowledged Sir Keir is “unpopular” with voters, adding: “But each of the last four prime ministers in turn have been the most unpopular prime minister we’ve ever had.
“What happens when you’re the leader of the Government at a time when the public are so angry with the state of our public services and the economy, is it focuses down on that individual.”
The embattled Prime Minister spent Friday morning visiting a south London police station, where he met London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan and Metropolitan Police chief Sir Mark Rowley ahead of a weekend set to be marked by protests in the capital.
Britain’s long-term government borrowing costs meanwhile came under pressure again amid the political instability.
The yield on 30-year UK government bonds, also known as gilts, surged 12 basis points to 5.774% in Friday morning trading, climbing close to 28-year highs reached earlier this week.
On Thursday evening, Greater Manchester Mayor Mr Burnham said he wanted to return to Westminster to “make politics work properly for people” after Josh Simons, the Labour MP for Makerfield, said he would stand down so Mr Burnham can “drive the change our country is crying out for”.
The Prime Minister does not plan to block Mr Burnham from standing to be the candidate in the Makerfield by-election, but first the party’s National Executive Committee needs to give him the green light when it meets next week.
Sources said Sir Keir will not seek to block Mr Burnham from becoming Labour’s candidate in the forthcoming by-election.
Sir Keir has faced mounting calls to quit in the wake of Labour’s disastrous local election results last week, prompting speculation his critics within the Cabinet were prepared to tell him it was time to resign.
But by lunchtime on Thursday, only Mr Streeting, who was later replaced by former chief secretary to the Treasury James Murray, had quit the Government.
It is still unclear whether Mr Streeting has the support of 81 Labour MPs as needed to launch a formal challenge against the Prime Minister.
While some 89 MPs have so far publicly called for Sir Keir’s resignation, they are not united behind a single candidate to replace him.
If he did not step down, Sir Keir would automatically be on the ballot paper in any race, and Downing Street has continued to insist that he would fight any effort to oust him.
