UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, came under renewed pressure on Monday when four ministerial aides stepped down, and more than 70 Labour lawmakers publicly called for his resignation after his plea for another opportunity appeared to fall on deaf ears.
During an address to party supporters in London, Keir Starmer passionately urged both Labour members and voters to stand by him and reject calls for a leadership contest, warning it would plunge the party into chaos. However, the speech appeared to do little to halt the growing unrest.
The Times newspaper reported that Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and other cabinet ministers had told the prime minister to consider setting out a timeline for his departure as Labour lawmakers went public to express their dissatisfaction over one of the worst defeats for Labour in last week’s local elections.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper told Starmer that he should oversee an orderly transition of power, according to the Guardian.
ITV News reported that Starmer’s deputy, David Lammy, was also urging his boss to set out a departure timetable.
Four ministerial aides said they were resigning, believing that Starmer, 63, was not the man to lead Labour into the next national election, due in 2029, and hoping to trigger a leadership contest that could last weeks, if not months.
“It is clear to me that the prime minister has lost authority not just within the parliamentary Labour Party but across the country and that he will not be able to regain it,” said Tom Rutland, a ministerial aide to the environment minister, in his resignation letter.
Catherine West, a little-known former junior minister who broke cover at the weekend to threaten to seek a leadership contest if Starmer failed to offer radical change, told Reuters she had received 80 responses supporting her demand that the prime minister set out a timetable for his departure.
She called for a leadership election to happen in September.
Starmer swiftly announced new appointments to fill a number of vacant positions.
Angela Rayner, former deputy prime minister, seen as a potential challenger for the leadership after criticizing Starmer’s operation on Sunday, told a union conference the government “will be judged on actions and not just our words.”