Angela Rayner’s ultimatum to Starmer: move hard left if you want to stay PM

Angela Rayner has given Sir Keir Starmer a dramatic ultimatum for his government to take a hard left turn before the embattled prime minister delivers a speech to save his political career on Monday morning.

As speculation grows that he is ready to launch a leadership challenge, the former deputy prime minister, who still has to resolve issues over unpaid taxes, warned Sir Keir: “What we are doing is not working and needs to change. This may be our last chance.”

It comes as Labor MPs believe former minister Catherine West is approaching the number of parliamentarians she will need to mount a leadership challenge at the trailing horse.

While Ms West has not yet formally requested the nomination and has made clear she will wait for the prime minister to speak “or last”, it is understood nearly 70 of her colleagues are already set to back her to ensure a contest takes place.

Ms West will need the support of 80 MPs to officially launch her leadership bid, but she can trigger the process by contacting the party’s National Executive Committee.

It came as the Prime Minister was warned he must “give the speech of his life” if he hopes to remain in office; The number of Labor Party MPs increased every hour and publicly demanded his resignation.

Former home secretary Lord David Blunkett said: Times Radio: “I think either Keir is doing his best and there is a huge transformation in our public relations. Or he and [his wife] Victoria will have to talk about the best way to do this appropriately and someone else will take over. “The jury is well and truly out.”

MPs reacted angrily after Sir Keir gave an interview at the weekend and suggested he wanted to be prime minister for a decade.

Meanwhile Sharon Graham, general secretary of the Unite union, warned: “The Labor Party is in danger of extinction.”

However, in addition to Rayner, health minister Wes Streeting, energy minister Ed Miliband and defense minister Al Carns, a former Royal Marines commander, are also thought to be preparing proposals.

Looking at last week’s local election results, Ms Rayner noted: “We are in danger of becoming the party of the wealthy, not the party of the working people.”

And in a scathing attack on Sir Keir’s time as prime minister, he said: “The Peter Mandelson scandal showed a toxic culture of nepotism. Decisions such as cutting the winter fuel allowance were not what people expected from a Labor government.”

But he insisted, laying out the leftist agenda: “We have a chance to fix this.”

He called for greater intervention in reducing household bills, increased planning reforms, more community ownership and bringing private companies into public ownership.

He criticized Sir Keir for blocking Andy Burnham’s return to parliament: “We can only prove we mean it by putting common interests ahead of factionalism.”

And in an implied threat to the leadership, he added: “The Prime Minister must now seize the moment and deliver the change our country needs.

“Change our economic agenda to prioritize making people better off, change the way we run our party so that all voices are heard, and change the way we do politics.

“The workforce is there to make working people better off. This isn’t happening fast enough and it needs to change now.”

The fallout from last week’s disastrous results for Labor has raised fears on the party’s left that health secretary Wes Streeting is planning a coronation to replace Sir Keir.

A source close to Mr Streeting denied telling Sir Keir he was ready to become prime minister but confirmed the health secretary, who did not endorse the prime minister on Friday, was not planning any intervention until Thursday, when new NHS data is due to be published.

Meanwhile, a member of the 2024 Labor MP recruitment confirmed that a leadership team had been formed for Mr Carns.

They said: “Why are we once again turning to the same familiar faces to solve the problems they were involved in creating? If we want to demonstrate real change to the public, we need a new face to lead that change. Members of the 2024 intake are still hopeful of persuading Al Carns to run in the event of a contest, and support for this view appears to be growing.”

Ms West’s move at the weekend forced various rivals for Sir Keir’s crown to reset their plans, but Ms Rayner’s supporters claimed privately that Mr Streeting would nominate some of his supporters to launch a contest, which he could then take part in without taking the blame for starting the contest.

Tensions in Downing Street ahead of the King’s speech on Wednesday in another week of crisis for the prime minister were highlighted by a delay for his opening speech aimed at resetting his government.

Sir Keir is understood to want to discuss reversing key parts of Brexit as his party seeks to regain the initiative after being nearly wiped out in Wales, suffering its worst ever result in Scotland and losing nearly 1,500 council seats in England.

Almost 40 Labor MPs have publicly called for him to go or set a timetable for his departure, and many more have privately agreed.

Earlier, education minister Bridget Phillipson had defended Sir Keir.

he said Sky News: “I knocked on doors across the country and in my own community, as would my colleagues and party members.

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

“What I heard loud and clear from voters was their deep disappointment that they voted for change in 2024, they were hopeful that change would be delivered and they didn’t think we as a party or as a Labor government were delivering what they wanted.”

But among a number of MPs demanding Sir Keir leave, Jarrow and Gateshead East MP Kate Osborne wrote: Independent: “The direction Keir’s Labor Party has taken has not only resulted in us losing councils and councilors who serve local people, it is also destroying the Labor Party.”

Others urged the party to resist the coup and take time to elect a new leader.

Leeds East MP Richard Burgon, who chairs the Socialist Campaign Group and wants Mr Burnham to return and take the leadership, said: “What we need instead is for Keir to set a date for his departure, followed by a full and proper democratic contest that can look at what went wrong and how we change course to regain trust and support where a wide range of candidates and perspectives are represented.

“And that process must involve not just the Cabinet, but all MPs, unions and party members, all of whom must have a democratic say in choosing Labour’s future direction.”