Thin majorities and chaotic strategy push Labour MPs toward regime change | Labour
Keir Starmer’s No 10 was repeatedly caught off guard by an operation that boasted its political instincts.
The winter fuel decision was immediately followed by a drop in popularity, a decline in loyalty among Labor MPs which led to the welfare vote disaster and the audacity of Andy Burnham’s open campaign for the leadership leading up to the Labor Party conference.
Now the operation sees threats everywhere and is determined to highlight potential rebels and eliminate their rivals.
A special operation has been carried out in recent weeks to eliminate a potential leadership challenge, and some are convinced it could come as soon as the budget is announced. The plan is to try to uncover possible coup plotters and give lawmakers pause as to where such a dangerous path would lead.
MPs are being briefed on how big a problem it would be for financial markets or how relations with the US could deteriorate if candidates turn left to apply for Labor membership.
Health Minister Wes Streeting is seen as the biggest threat. But within the parliamentary Labor Party there are several potential leadership campaigns sounding, including Burnham, who has not given up hope of succeeding Starmer, as well as other options such as Bridget Phillipson, Shabana Mahmood and even Angela Rayner.
The senior figures at No.10 admit they are constantly switching between different strategies to address their own unpopularity.
After a summer of rebellion, Starmer managed to reassure some MPs with his conference speech, a passionate condemnation of the racism and division fueled by Reform UK and a heartfelt diversity advocate. But there is widespread disappointment that many of the promised changes in approach only last a week.
Strategists say Starmer will be more visible to the public, take more questions from the public, travel around the country more and spend less time on planes. But it still doesn’t happen.
Between the party conference and the budget Starmer will have been out of the country three times. He has not held a press conference since his trip to India more than a month ago. Reformation organized at least five.
His allies are convinced that no good argument for Starmer’s achievements works. But the only major intervention by a cabinet minister in recent weeks was Rachel Reeves’s press conference to promote tax rises and a potential manifesto breach.
They also note that he is personally excited about anti-racism and taking action to reunite progressives, but after a good conference speech, the party is still hesitant to respond or attack the issue. It took almost five days for the public to hear Starmer’s scathing response to the case of leading Conservative Party member Katie Lam being deported to maintain “cultural harmony”.
Many of the MPs selected as Labour’s “high-quality candidates” were people built in Starmer’s image: ambitious, thoughtful, many with careers outside politics, loyal to the project of a centrist Labor government that prioritizes power but cares about equality.
Many remain loyal to this project, but this project too could easily have a different leader because Starmer has never sought to cultivate personal loyalty.
It’s been a real change to see so many people now eager for regime change. These are not people who came to politics in general to stage a coup, but people who have been driven to the brink by the deplorable state of the party and their own very slim majority. As one Labor MP said: “They might try to be better and not be paranoid.”
