Keir Starmer accused of losing control of his party after failing to suspend sleaze inquiry vote rebels
Sir Keir Starmer is accused of losing control of his party after failing to remove more than a dozen Labor rebels from office who supported a shoddy investigation into the prime minister.
The Labor leader had instructed MPs to reject an inquiry into allegations that Peter Mandelson misled Parliament over the botched security clearance scandal that threatened to end his tenure as prime minister.
But 15 Labor MPs, mostly from the left-wing Socialist Campaign Group within the party, defied the prime minister and voted for an investigation.
However, as the whip was not abolished, the Prime Minister faced questions over his authority.
It comes on the same day Sir Keir did not back Rachel Reeves at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) in the House of Commons, following reports that his chancellor and key ally could be sacked in an upcoming reshuffle.
A rebel told Independent: “We have not been contacted [by the whip]. My guess is they might want to keep going.”
They added: “I think this would mean prolonging or focusing on a damaging story and ‘Starmer is punishing MPs for saying he should answer questions’ is not a good look for a man who says he has nothing to hide.”
A senior understudy admitted this when asked if the prime minister had lost control. Another Labor MP said: “He’s not in a strong enough position to start sacking large numbers of MPs.”
“Starmer is locked in the boot of a car [Labour] “No one is driving,” said a third substitute, adding: “He’s out of credit. He escaped months ago. No one wants to follow him; There’s only one person to replace him.”
However, there was also speculation that the prime minister wanted to avoid further fueling the Mandelson scandal story and would “wait until the summer to take counter action”. [the rebels].”
Due to previous rebellions, including two child benefit caps and disagreements over welfare reform, Sir Keir has moved to remove the rebels from his parliamentary party.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch slammed Sir Keir Starmer as a “man out of control” during heated PMQs.
The Conservative leader claimed he saw the Prime Minister “punching the Speaker’s chair” after a heated conversation with Sir Lindsay Hoyle earlier this month.
“This is not a man in control,” he said, before accusing Sir Keir of “broken promises on taxes, U-turn after U-turn”.
He also claimed that the “only thing that has grown” since the prime minister took office in July 2024 was the welfare bill.
Sir Keir was forced to concede to welfare rebels on his own bench last year in a bid to thwart a damaging rebellion that the government feared it might lose. The move meant abandoning plans to save £5bn from the welfare bill.
Last July, Sir Keir sacked four MPs for persistent breaches of party discipline: Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman, Chris Hinchliff and Rachael Maskell; they had all voted against the government’s welfare reform bill. Last July, he sacked seven Labor MPs over a rebellion supporting an amendment to remove two controversial child benefit caps.
But there is already speculation that former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, energy minister Ed Miliband or health minister Wes Streeting are lined up to take over the leadership after the election on May 7.
A member of parliament told Independent: “The next two weeks are very important. If the Prime Minister can come by the end of May, he will probably lead us to the next election, but this is a big possibility.”
