How could Labour remove Keir Starmer? Four possible routes | Keir Starmer
Many Labor MPs believe Keir Starmer will not survive as Labor leader long enough to contest the next election. But what they cannot agree on, even after the disastrous results in this week’s election, is how his departure could happen.
Work rule book This makes it extremely difficult to dismiss a party leader: none were formally expelled in the post-war period, although some, including Tony Blair, resigned under pressure from their own MPs.
All hell broke loose on Saturday when backbencher Catherine West launched a leadership challenge.
West, MP for Hornsey and Friern Barnet and deputy Foreign Secretary until he was sacked during last year’s reshuffle, announced on Monday morning that unless a cabinet minister came forward to challenge Starmer for the leadership, he would do so himself.
If Labor wants to oust Starmer, here are some ways to do it.
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1. 81 MP rule
According to Labour’s constitution, anyone seeking to replace an incumbent leader must have the written support of 20% of the party in parliament, which currently has 81 MPs. Anyone who collects this many nominations can participate in a leadership contest; The leader who wishes to remain in office automatically qualifies.
There is no evidence that West possesses these figures, and West has been described as a sneaky horse, a figure used to test the waters or challenge on behalf of a third party.
Starmer has vowed to run again if a contest is forced; This means that the challenger or challengers will have to confront the prime minister directly. Labor MPs will then vote on who will lead the party and become prime minister.
This is the main reason why it is so much harder to replace a Labor leader than a Conservative leader. Conservative party rules mean MPs can anonymously express their distrust of a prime minister and do not have to rally around an alternative to force a contest.
Allies of Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, health secretary Wes Streeting and former deputy chancellor Angela Rayner claim their candidates have the necessary support to force the vote.
But MPs who pledged their support in whispered conversations in Westminster corridors may be less willing to put their names to a public challenge.
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2. public pressure
There are a number of ways Labor figures can apply enough public pressure to persuade a leader to stand down. The most obvious is a mass resignation of ministers, as happened to Boris Johnson in 2022, when the resignation of 30 ministers made it almost impossible to run the government.
Boris Johnson gives a speech outside 10 Downing Street before officially resigning on 6 September 2022. Photo: Bloomberg/Getty When Scottish Labor leader Anas Sarwar called for Starmer’s replacement earlier this year, the prime minister’s allies thought cabinet ministers might follow suit. Only after receiving public messages of support from each of them did they feel that the prime minister’s position was completely secure.
If regional Labor leaders all decided to call on the prime minister to resign, this would have less direct impact but would also make it harder to stay in office. Sarwar has been the only one to do this so far.
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3. Men and women in gray suits
Rather than publicly displaying disloyalty, senior Labor MPs may opt for private persuasion to get Starmer gone.
Politicians such as former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith and Liberal Democrat Charles Kennedy were quietly dismissed in this way. This will allow Starmer to preserve his reputation and resign on his own terms.
But given that the prime minister has said he plans to stay in office no matter what, someone very close to him may need to apply the necessary pressure, backed by multiple threats to resign.
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4. A vote of confidence
Labor ministers who tried to oust Jeremy Corbyn in 2016 found him a stubborn opponent. After half the shadow cabinet resigned in protest against his leadership following the Brexit referendum, Corbyn replaced them and continued in his post.
As a result, two Labor MPs called for a parliamentary no-confidence vote against Corbyn. The rebels won the vote 172-40, but he still refused to resign and continued fighting.
Jeremy Corbyn faced a vote of no confidence in June 2016 but continued the fight, refusing to resign. Photo: Carl Court/Getty A leadership contest was eventually held after Corbyn’s rival Owen Smith collected the required number of signatures. However, the seated leader was automatically allowed into the competition and eventually won.
There’s a lesson here for Starmer’s rivals. A vote of confidence in parliament is easier to hold than a formal leadership election, and the incumbent faces huge pressure to resign if he loses.
But given the fact that such a vote has no binding force, Starmer may choose to do what his predecessor did and hold on to it.
