Starmer ally joins calls for him resign and claims the Prime Minister has ‘lost the country’: Live updates

Labor MP Josh Simons has added his name to the growing list of frustrated party representatives calling for Sir Keir Starmer to go.

Mr Simons, formerly considered a Starmer loyalist, was a previous director of the think tank Labor Together, which was pivotal in Sir Keir’s rise to power.

Sharing the article he wrote for The Times on social media, Mr Simons admitted that the article was ‘not easy to write’.

But in a meeting call he added: ‘We Labor MPs have got to keep up with reality. ‘These elections were not a normal mid-term tedium, but a definitive judgment that our actions were out of step with the times.’

He wrote in The Times:

I don’t believe the prime minister could have risen to this moment by putting the people I represent and the country I love first.

He lost the country. He must take control of the situation by overseeing an orderly transition to a new prime minister.

The hosts of Rest Is Politics turned their attention to the Green Party’s Zack Polanski, noting signs he may be chronically online.

An investigation by the Economist found he liked 35,000 posts on a social media site over a 12-month period.

His name was said to appear in about a third of the posts.

Alastair Campbell said: ‘This is too much. That’s a lot of activity.’

Angela Rayner posted photos of herself in murky waters as she went for a swim in the ‘Tough Mudder’ charity challenge last night.

The former Deputy Prime Minister was photographed climbing over a dirt-covered board as he posed with his fellow race finishers.

Ms Rayner is seen as one of the favorites to replace Sir Keir; but is still trying to settle outstanding stamp duty issues with HM Revenue and Customs.

A tipster has claimed that the illegal practice of ‘family voting’ is widespread.

A local government source revealed Manchester City Council had received 50 reports about the practice.

You can read the full report by deputy research editor Mark Hookham here:

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham this morning joined calls for the Prime Minister to set a timetable for his departure.

The boss of Labour’s biggest union donor told the BBC with Laura Kuennsberg on Sunday:

For me personally and my members in Unite, we have already been cut off by 40 per cent in many areas because they are not doing anything for workers.

We will say that what we want is an orderly transition. And actually, if Keir cares about the country as much as he says he cares about his country, what he needs to do now is say, okay, look, that didn’t work.

Despite this, Sir Keir Starmer said yesterday he thought he would rule for another decade.

The Chancellor is said to have had a ‘huge row’ with younger sister Ellie on her son’s birthday after she joined Sir Keir Starmer in voting to block Andy Burnham from standing in the Gorton and Denton byelection.

Adding to the drama, the siblings are also understood to be playing The Traitors board game, based on the hit reality TV show about lies, cheating and betrayal.

You can read the full report by political correspondent Gabriel Millard-Clothier here:

Catherine West today told the Education Secretary that he should consider running for the Labor leadership.

It comes after Bridget Phillipson this morning insisted Ms West was ‘completely wrong’ in her challenge to Sir Keir Starmer.

Ms West said:

There’s nothing stopping Bridget from standing. Why are all men better than women?

We need some senior women to step up and fight through the really tough two and a half years between now and the general election, while also taking us into a second term.#

Ms Phillipson responded:

I love you very much, Catherine, but I disagree with you on this.

One of the prime minister’s own senior MPs launched a scathing attack on the prime minister, accusing him of ‘losing the plot’ over the threat to his leadership.

Manchester MP Graham Stringer told The Mail on Sunday: ‘If Keir has a plot then he has lost. It is a parody of the politics of 16 years ago.

‘Neither Harriet nor Gordon can solve an impossible problem: how to reform a very unpopular Prime Minister.’

You can read Glen Owen and Dan Hodges’ full story here:

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson insisted Catherine West was ‘completely wrong’ to launch a leadership challenge against Sir Keir Starmer.

Speaking to Trevor Phillips on Sky News Sunday Morning, he said he understood many colleagues felt ‘sick’ about the ‘extent of defeat’ the party had suffered this week.

However, he added:

I knocked on doors all over the country and in my own community, as did my colleagues and party members.

And what I heard was not a desire for a leadership contest for Labor to spend more time talking among ourselves.

What I heard loud and clear from voters was their deep disappointment in voting for change in 2024; They were hopeful that this change would happen and they didn’t think that we as a party or as a Labor government were delivering what they wanted.

Reform England’s Home Affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf joked that Andy Burnham was now ‘scouting the election results’ to find a safe seat to run for Labour.

Supporters of the Greater Manchester mayor have called on backbencher Catherine West to suspend her plan to run for the Labor leadership.

It comes as they envision Mr Burnham first trying to find a seat in parliament so he can fight a by-election and return to Westminster.

But it is thought Ms West was not persuaded.

Reform UK cruised to victory in this week’s local elections, winning more than 1,400 council seats across England.

Meanwhile, Labor suffered historic defeats in Wales and Birmingham; Nigel Farage boasted that both Labor and the Conservatives would face historic losses.

Meanwhile, the Greens compounded the misery of Sir Keir’s party by taking the mayoralty of Hackney and winning more than 350 seats across England.

You can see all the results here:

Everyone is wondering whether Labor Party’s Catherine West will be able to get the support of the 81 MPs needed for the leadership vote.

In last night’s bombshell intervention, Ms West plotted to oust the Prime Minister by putting herself forward as the ‘chasing horse’ candidate.

Running for the Labor leadership with little or no chance of winning, he hopes to test the waters for a stronger challenger.

The plot has divided opinion within the party but Downing Street sources appear adamant Ms West will not get the 81 signatories needed to challenge Sir Keir.

Ms West said she would publicly announce the leadership coup on Monday if the Cabinet did not take action against the Prime Minister by the deadline.

Who is Catherine West?

• Ms West was first elected to parliament in 2015 as the Labor MP for Hornsey and Wood Green.
• He was quickly promoted to the front ranks of the Labor Party by Jeremy Corbyn and became a member of the left-wing socialist Fabian Society.
• Ms West was appointed parliamentary under-secretary at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, reporting to David Lammy in 2024.
• Born in Australia, 59 years old and mother of two