A clear majority of Britons think it is time for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to step down in the wake of his disastrous election results, and while he vows to stay on events in Westminster appear on the verge of forcing his hand.
UPDATE 1955 — Three PPS resignations
There has been a steady drumbeat of Labour MPs officially calling on Starmer to resign, and especially after his poorly received reset speech this morning. From a couple of dozen at daybreak we’re now at 69 plotters, edging clearly towards the threshold of 81 members to trigger a leadership challenge.
But more notable is that junior members of the government are now resigning so they can join the rebels, not just backbenchers. So far today we have the following parliamentary private secretaries:
Naushabah Khan, a PPS in the Cabinet Office
Tom Rutland, a PPS in the Department for Food, Environment, and Rural Affairs
Joe Morris, PPS in the Department for Health and Social Care
Per Parliament’s own definition, a PPS is:
…appointed by a minister to be his or her assistant. He or she is selected from backbench MPs as the ‘eyes and ears’ of the minister in the House of Commons. It is an unpaid job but it is useful for an MP to become a PPS to gain experience of working in government.
A junior member of the government indeed. The fact that Joe Morris, who as a DHS secretary is close to leadership challenger Wes Streeting, has resigned is being treated as particularly consequential as he’s seen as an unofficial spokesman for his boss. Expect more through the evening.
The original story continues below
Snap research by pollster YouGov, asking an unusually large sample of nearly 5,000 adults today, finds Britons as a whole are ready to see the Prime Minister go. Asked the question “Do you think Keir Starmer should remain as Labour leader and Prime Minister”, most respondents, at 50 per cent, said he should “Should stand down and be replaced by a new Labour leader and Prime Minister”.
A considerably smaller group — just 29 per cent — said he should stay in the job, with the remainder made up of don’t knows. When looking at a breakdown of support for the Prime Minister by party affiliation his most ardent backers were of course Labour voters, but even among that demographic Starmer couldn’t find a majority in favour of his staying in post, with just 45 per cent of his own voters saying they back remain as PM.
The polling followed shattering election results last week that saw Sir Keir’s Labour party achieve its worst results in a century, being totally wiped out even in deeply red areas it has commanded unquestioningly since the end of the First World War. Despite the clear message from the public at the ballot box and the longstanding understanding that Sir Keir was only still in office to take the fall for the totally foreseeable election losses, the Prime Minister absolutely doubled down on his ministry.
Over the weekend Starmer said far from wanting to eke out a little longer in power, he was planning on a historic ten year reign, and today portrayed his leadership as the country’s best option for avoiding “chaos”.
It is ever more clear that Starmer’s own party colleagues do not agree with his view, however, with Labour on the very verge of open rebellion on Monday evening. Dozens of Labour Members of Parliament have broken cover to call on him to resign and, remarkably, a handful of junior members of government have already resigned.
Read the full article here