Starmer will still face leadership contest if Burnham loses by-election, Jess Phillips says
Sir Keir Starmer is likely to be booted from No 10 even if Andy Burnham doesn’t return to parliament to challenge him, Jess Phillips has said.
The Prime Minister has faced huge pressure on his position in recent weeks following the disastrous results in local elections earlier this month.
Almost 100 of his own MPs have called for his resignation, while scores of ministers have resigned, including Ms Phillips and former health secretary Wes Streeting.
A leadership challenge has yet to be officially triggered as other rivals appear to be awaiting the Greater Manchester mayor’s potential return to parliament.
But while Mr Burnham is widely seen as Sir Keir’s most likely successor, Ms Phillips said a challenge would remain regardless of his success in the Makerfield by-election.
“Even if Andy Burnham doesn’t win at Makerfield, I think there will be a change of prime minister,” he told the Hay Festival.
“I’ve never been to Wigan in my life so I have absolutely no idea about the people there, so I’ll go and find out. But yeah, I imagine Andy Burnham will win and then I imagine the premiership will change.”
Ms Phillips resigned from her post as conservation minister earlier this month, joining a string of mostly junior ministers resigning in protest against Sir Keir’s leadership.
In her letter, she accused him of not acting quickly enough on violence against women and girls, saying “the desire not to debate means we rarely debate and stop and delay opportunities for progress.”
Speaking at the festival, Ms Phillips said she felt “liberated” since resigning as conservation minister in a scathing letter accusing the prime minister of failing to be “brave”.
He said on Monday: “I can sort of see where Keir Starmer and Keir Starmer loyalists are coming from, that the idea that we can so quickly repair a country so badly broken after years of austerity is just a lie.
“But what he also doesn’t do is grab that assignment or even actually tell the story.”
The Prime Minister has vowed to remain Labor leader and insisted he will fight any official objections launched against him.
But disastrous local election results exposed deep divisions within the Labor Party and threw Sir Keir’s government into chaos.
The divisions within the cabinet have been laid bare after the dramatic resignation of Health Secretary Wes Streeting following days of intense speculation.
The MP and former health secretary told reporters on Friday that he was delaying triggering the leadership race to give Mr Burnham time to return to the House of Commons.
If Mr Burnham wins the Makerfield by-election, he is likely to use his return to parliament as an opportunity to trigger a leadership race against Sir Keir, with polls suggesting he will win.
But Burnham’s allies have suggested she may not immediately run for party leadership if she is successful in the June 18 election.
