KEIR Starmer is considering resigning amid mounting pressure from his Cabinet in the wake of Andy Burnham’s by-election victory, according to reports.
The Time reports that Starmer will consider his future as Prime Minister over the weekend despite him publicly insisting this morning that he will not “walk away”.
Several Cabinet ministers have reportedly told Starmer "to go" or set out a timeline for his departure. The list includes Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander.
Andy Burnham’s allies believe Starmer should set out a timetable to hand over the premiership in September to avoid jeopardising Labour’s prospects in the Greater Manchester mayoral race, it is understood.
But Starmer has insisted he will fight his rivals should a contest be triggered after the outgoing mayor and former Leigh MP’s return to Westminster, who defied national trends to increase Labour’s share of the vote in Makerfield.
He said he will not “walk away” from Downing Street and has been holding calls with members of his Cabinet to shore up support in the wake of the by-election result, as first reported by The i Paper.
Speaking to reporters at an event in north London, Starmer said: “If there is a contest, then yes, I will stand.
“I have said repeatedly, I am not going to walk away from that.”
James Lyons, the former director of strategic communications for Starmer, told Times Radio the Prime Minister “might be in some political quicksand here”.
He added: “What I mean by that is that the harder he struggles, the faster he might get sucked down."
Lyons further argued “some people around Andy Burnham would like him to enter No 10 in September” allowing him to come up with a detailed policy programme, and allowing Starmer “another couple of months in Downing Street” and “a trip to the World Cup Final”.
A former health minister who resigned alongside Wes Streeting had called on the Cabinet to urge the Prime Minister to stand down.
Zubir Ahmed, MP for Glasgow South West, told Sky News that Cabinet ministers had a responsibility to be “as honest and explicit to the Prime Minister, to his face, as they are privately”.
He said: “I haven’t been in touch with any Cabinet ministers myself in the last few days, but that is ultimately one of the responsibilities of cabinet government in our unwritten constitution, that at times like this they do have an authority and a moral imperative to articulate very honestly to the Prime Minister where things are at.”
