Keir Starmer is braced for Ed Miliband to resign NEXT WEEK as part of Cabinet coup if PM refuses to make way for Burnham coronation

Keir Starmer is preparing for Ed Miliband to resign next week as part of a coordinated coup to oust him.

The Prime Minister’s allies believe the Energy Secretary is set to lead a wave of ministerial resignations if Sir Keir refuses to give in to Andy Burnham’s demands to resign.

Home Affairs Minister Shabana Mahmood was also placed on resignation watch following reports that she had struck a deal with Mr Burnham, but Mahmood denies the allegation.

The prime minister’s allies insist he is serious about fighting for his job and has already drawn up a list of loyal MPs who could fill the vacancies.

A source told the Mail: ‘Andy’s level of authority is off the charts. He wants a coronation to avoid any scrutiny, and it seems he is prepared to inconvenience the Government as much as possible to get it.

‘We’re gearing up for some spectacular resignations next week. Ed thinks Andy will be his chancellor, and all signs are that he’s getting ready to walk.

‘Shabana is in talks with Andy’s team; he can go too.

‘This is all designed to put pressure on the Prime Minister to leave quietly. If it works, then some newspapers will be right to describe it as a Left coup.’

Sir Keir Starmer, pictured at the G7 summit in France this week, is said to be clinging doggedly to Downing Street

Voters head to the polls today in a tough Makerfield by-election that Mr Burnham hopes to use as a vehicle for his ambition to take the keys to No 10.

If Reform accepts Britain’s domestic challenge, he is expected to deliver a special ultimatum to the Prime Minister this weekend, telling him he must set a departure timetable or face an imminent challenge.

Sir Keir insisted again on Wednesday that he would not resign.

In an apparent peace overture, he suggested Mr Burnham could be offered a ‘major’ role in the Cabinet.

But the Prime Minister first insisted that Mr Burnham keep his promise to lead the fight to keep Labor control of the Greater Manchester mayoral by-election that he initiated.

At the G7 summit in France, the Prime Minister said: ‘First and foremost, I want Andy Burnham to win and that’s why I’ve encouraged activists and members to go there throughout the campaign and they’ll be there tomorrow too, helping to deliver the votes.

‘What happens then is that we get dragged into the Manchester mayoral by-election, which is one of the biggest by-elections we’ve ever had because of its scale.

‘And it’s really important to me that the whole Labor Party and the Labor movement focus on this, which is the next most urgent task.’

Sir Keir insisted he “doesn’t feel angry” about the crisis in the Labor leadership and suggested he wants Mr Burnham to “have a big role” in his government, describing him as a “huge asset”.

But on Wednesday Mr Burnham’s allies said he would not take a job in Sir Keir’s cabinet if he was successful at Makerfield today.

A source from the campaign team told the Manchester Evening News: ‘The benefit Andy brings is a wind of change in that he is not associated with the Government’s failures.’

The source also warned No 10 not to try to ‘further challenge’ Mr Burnham.

Sir Keir has insisted for weeks that he would fight any leadership election and would not ‘evade’ electoral authority.

Behind the scenes, he is also assembling a campaign team that includes vetting potential donors and potential resignations from Mr Burnham’s supporters and former health secretary Wes Streeting. Wes Streeting said on Wednesday he could launch a fight as soon as next week.

Even at the G7 Summit he took time to attend campaign calls with members of the Labor Party in the UK.

Labor sources predict Housing Secretary Steve Reed could serve as Sir Keir’s campaign chairman and even launch a challenge code-named ‘Operation Save Keir’ as early as Friday morning, immediately following the Makerfield result.

Mr Burnham could return to Parliament after today’s Makerfield by-election

An ally of Sir Keir has claimed he decided to fight when he was considering quitting after a ‘shake up’ last month.

‘He thinks he deserves to be punished. “But there is also a public service dimension to this,” the source said.

‘He believes it would be completely irresponsible to hand over the keys to someone who is largely unproven, without any due diligence.’

The prospect of a prolonged civil war within the Labor Party is worrying other Cabinet ministers who fear the kind of intra-party fighting that brought down the last Conservative government.

A cabinet minister told the Daily Mail: ‘We have a responsibility to continue to do our job and carry on the business of government. The public will not forgive us if we descend into the chaos we saw under the Tories.’

Ms Mahmood is known to have privately warned Sir Keir last month that he needed to set a timetable for his departure after disastrous local elections in which Labor lost 1,500 council seats in England and came third in Scotland and Wales.

However, his aides denied that he was ready to resign to help remove the Prime Minister and that he was “focused on his job”.

Mr Miliband did not respond to questions about whether he planned to resign next week.

After becoming close, she and Sir Keir fell out in recent months. The Times reported that the Prime Minister refused to answer his calls.

Downing Street denied that the two men had not spoken.