No 10 plot to save Keir Starmer has made leadership crisis worse | Politics | News
The Labor Party is in a complete leadership crisis. Keir Starmer’s allies in Downing Street believe he faces an imminent blow; critics plan to oust him from Number 10 after the Budget on November 26, or perhaps after local elections next May. So they launched a pre-emptive strike and tried to stick the knife in Health Minister Wes Streeting, who was seen as the person most likely to take over.
They tried to portray Mr Streeting as disloyal in comments made to friendly journalists. After all, no one likes a traitor. They also warned that Sir Keir would not go quietly. Under Labour’s rules, he would be allowed to stand again if his rivals managed to mount a leadership contest, and friends say he will do just that, creating a bloody and damaging fight.
Sir Keir’s aides say the leadership battle will cause great damage to the UK, damaging the economy and our relations with our foreign friends. Donald Trump. But their cunning plan to eliminate the threat to Ser Keir backfired. They created a leadership crisis that didn’t exist.
The only issues being debated in Westminster now are how long the Prime Minister can stay in Number 10 and who might replace him.
Observers will be alert to any signs of disloyalty or ambition from Sir Keir’s cabinet colleagues and will present this as evidence of a conspiracy.
Remember when the Conservatives were in government and we heard talk of “letters” from angry Tory backbenchers planning to sack the Prime Minister? Even if there was some truth to this, all this speculation was of no help. The endless stream of gossip made it difficult for the then Prime Minister – be it Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak – to do their job.
Downing Street has consciously created its own version of the “letters” story. This shows how bad they are at doing politics.
But they are not wrong to think that Labor MPs are despairing about Sir Keir Starmer.
Many Labor MPs believe he is bad at his job. They’re happy he’s getting Labor back into government, but I don’t think he has any plans for what he’ll do once he gets there.
Consider, for example, Labour’s efforts to close refugee hotels. When they came to power, they canceled the last Conservative government’s proposals to move refugees to disused military bases. They planned to use “medium-sized” sites such as disused student accommodation or blocks of flats instead.
A little more than a year later, the policy changed. Now they want to use military bases again.
It was a wasted 12 months and guess what? Refugees are still in hotels.
This is just an example. But the problem is not just the lack of clear policies. It is also personal.
Labor MPs think Sir Keir doesn’t like them. They think you look down on them. That means they don’t like him either.
It lacks the human touch. When he fires the front row people and brings them back to the back rows, he doesn’t call them or send them a nice letter thanking them for their service. No effort to make friends.
Labor MPs would indeed welcome a new leader. However, this does not mean that they are planning a coup. The process of forcing a sitting Prime Minister out of Number 10 is so difficult and disruptive that they may prefer to suffer in silence.
However, Downing Street has moved leadership speculation to the top of the agenda. This actually increases the possibility of a coup.
