Inside Starmer’s fight to keep Labour leadership – Full timeline as calls grow for PM to step down

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer faces mounting pressure to resign following the departure of scores of Labor ministers and government deputies following last week’s dismal local election results.

The party has suffered significant defeats in generations of English councils and disastrous results in Wales, where First Minister Eluned Morgan failed to win a Senedd seat.

Meanwhile, Nigel Farage’s Reform UK made stunning gains, including 38 seats on Norfolk County Council, taking its total to 40.

Four ministers and several government deputies have resigned since Thursday’s elections, intensifying calls for the Prime Minister’s resignation.

But Sir Keir vowed to continue the fight at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting.

At least 82 of Labour’s 403 MPs have called for Sir Keir to leave, crossing the leadership race threshold.

But this depends on them uniting behind a single candidate, which is not the case right now.

Others showed their support for Sir Keir, with more than 100 Labor MPs signing a petition urging their colleagues to rally behind the Prime Minister, sources said on Tuesday afternoon.

The Labor leader was also publicly backed by several ministers following Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting.

Here’s what’s happened since Friday’s local election results.

Friday, May 8

16.54: First Minister of Wales, Baroness Eluned Morgan, loses her seat in the Senedd election. This was the first time an incumbent Welsh leader had lost an election in the Welsh Parliament.

17.04: Lady Morgan resigns as leader of the Welsh Labor Party after it was announced that she had lost her seat. While taking responsibility for Labour’s disastrous results in Wales, he criticized the Prime Minister, saying: “Nationally we need the Labor Government to change course.”

5.18pm: Sir Keir Starmer paid tribute to Baroness Eluned Morgan, saying she was a “fantastic First Minister and tireless champion of Wales”.

Saturday, May 9

5.25pm: Former Foreign Secretary Catherine West says she will challenge Sir Keir for the party leadership as early as Monday afternoon in a bid to force the Cabinet to put forward someone new as prime minister.

Sunday, May 10

5.32pm: Former Labor deputy leader Angela Rayner says Sir Keir must “seize the moment and deliver the change our country needs”, while warning Labor faces its “last chance” after a series of disastrous election results. He said Labor needed to bring its “best players into Parliament”, adding that it was a mistake to block Andy Burnham’s potential return to Westminster.

Monday, May 11

10.15am: The Prime Minister promises to prove his “skeptics” wrong, telling a press conference that Labor will “be better and do better”.

12.11pm: Ms West says she is gathering the names of Labor MPs to call on the Prime Minister to set a timetable for the election of a new leader in September, saying her speech was “good but does not outweigh the results achieved last Thursday”.

Afternoon: Ms West withdrew her recent threat to launch a leadership challenge but went on to write a letter, signed by 80 MPs, urging the Prime Minister to step aside.

6.15pm: Tom Rutland leaves his post as parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to Environment Minister Emma Reynolds. The MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, West Sussex, said the Prime Minister had “lost authority” and “cannot regain authority”.

6.33pm: Joe Morris resigns from his PPS post to Health Minister Wes Streeting. The MP for Hexham, Northumberland, called on Sir Keir to set a “quick timetable” for him to step aside.

6.47pm: Naushabah Khan resigns from her post as PPS in the Cabinet Office. Kent, MP for Gillingham and Rainham, called for “new leadership so we can rebuild trust and deliver the better future that British people voted for”.

20.04: Melanie Ward leaves her PPS post to David Lammy following “extremely disappointing” election results in Scotland. The Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy MP said the Prime Minister had “lost the public’s trust”.

Tuesday, May 12

9.19: Housing, Communities and Local Government Minister Miatta Fahnbulleh becomes the first minister to resign following the election, putting pressure on the Prime Minister to resign. He told Sir Keir to “do the right thing for the country and the party and set a timetable for an orderly transition” as he had lost public confidence in him over issues such as the cancellation of the winter fuel payment.

Around 9.30am: The Cabinet meeting begins in Downing Street.

9.50: The Prime Minister tells the Cabinet that “Labour is in the process of challenging a leader and this has not yet been triggered” and emphasizes that he will continue to govern.

12.08: Cabinet ministers leave the meeting supporting Sir Keir. Technology Minister Liz Kendall, Business Minister Peter Kyle, Work and Pensions Minister Pat McFadden and Housing Minister Steve Reed stood next to the Labor leader as he looked at cameras in Downing Street after the meeting. Ms Kendall said: “This Government will do what we were elected to do to serve the British people. I have the Prime Minister’s full support on this.”

12.58pm: Conservation Minister Jess Phillips has become the second minister to resign, criticizing the Prime Minister’s failure to be “courageous”. In her resignation statement, the Birmingham Yardley MP said any real action from Sir Keir to tackle violence against women and girls came “in light of catastrophic mistakes”.

1.44pm: Victims minister Alex Davies-Jones says he has resigned from the government in a letter to Sir Keir, becoming the third minister to resign since the election.

16.29: Health Minister Zubir Ahmed also resigned from the government due to “lack of values-oriented leadership”.