Just days ago Peckham MP Miatta Fahnbulleh was enthusiastically applauding Sir Keir Starmer as he rallied Labour activists in London.
The Prime Minister had travelled to Walworth in Southwark to urge Labour party members to launch a final push to woo voters ahead of the May 7 local elections.
On Tuesday, she became the first minister to resign from his Government, plunging his premiership into danger.
In a post on X, the Minister for Devolution, Faith, and Communities said: “Our country faces enormous challenges and people are crying out for the scale of change that this requires.
"The public does not believe that you can lead this change – and nor do I.
“I urge the Prime Minister to do the right thing for the country and the Party and set a timetable for an orderly transition.”
Calls for Sir Keir’s departure have poured in since Labour’s humiliating defeat at the May 7 local elections. Around 80 MPs have called on him to resign or set out a timetable for his departure.
The party suffered huge losses in England, Scotland and Wales - losing more than 1,400 council seats. In the capital, Labour defended a higher percentage of seats, but still lost 459 seats and the control of 11 councils.
Among those councils was Southwark - the borough council for Ms Fahbulleh’s Peckham constituency, where Labour lost 22 seats to Zack Polanski’s Green Party, meaning no party has overall control.
Ms Fahnbulleh has only been the Minister for Devolution, Faith, and Communities since 2024, and her resignation could prompt similar moves from Labour colleagues.
Her links to Ed Miliband, a potential successor to Labour’s leadership, also makes the resignation significant.
So who is Miatta Fahnbulleh?
A long career in public policy
Ms Fahnbulleh stepped into Harriet Harman’s shoes as Labour’s candidate for Peckham MP in 2024, looking to continue the party’s 27-year reign in the constituency.
The 45-year old was one of 411 Labour MPs who entered the Commons as part of Labour’s landslide victory in the general election and secured 58.8 per cent of the vote share to win the seat.
A week into her new role as MP, Ms Fahnbulleh was asked to become a junior minister in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
It was this role which has made Ms Fahnbulleh a close ally to former Labour leader Ed Miliband, who is now the Peckham MP’s boss and has been mooted as a replacement to Starmer should he resign.
Before becoming MP, Ms Fahnbulleh had already worked as an economics adviser to Mr Miliband when he was leader of the Labour Party and to former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, according to Politics Home.
In a previous interview with the BBC, Ms Fahnbulleh called her boss Mr Milliband, “a genuinely good guy, and he treats his team with such care and decent, and he’s hilarious. He does it with so much energy and love for the job. And it’s infectious.”
Ms Fahnbulleh had a long career in public policy prior to her election as MP for Peckham in 2024, including her stint at the Cabinet Office and six years as the chief executive of the New Economics Foundation, a left-wing think tank.
The Peckham MP
Her policy in Peckham has been centred around housing, opportunities for youth, and improving the cost of living crisis in her borough.
Outside of Peckham, her department has been driving the transition towards net zero goals. Their latest priority has been tackling fuel poverty, the warm homes plans, and the energy price cap.
She has pledged to tackle the climate crisis, insulate homes, and deliver cleaner energy.
Ideologically, Ms Fahnbulleh has been aligned to the soft left of the Labour Party.
What is Miatta Fahnbulleh’s background?
Ms Fahnbulleh is of Liberian and Sierra Leonean descent. Her father too has a background in public policy and politics, having served as a minister in Samuel Doe’s government.
The family fled Sierra Leone after her father spoke out against Doe’s dictatorship, forcing the family to claim asylum in the UK.
Since then, she has lived in Peckham. On her website, she wrote: “it was this community that taught me the values of compassion and solidarity that have shaped my politics. And it was here I first understood just how much the system is failing all of us.”
