What to know about the political chaos engulfing the UK’s Labour Party and efforts to unseat Starmer

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer sought to strengthen his grip on the job on Monday, saying he was staying in office after taking responsibility for disastrous election results that jeopardized Labor’s leadership.

Starmer was speaking as if he were making a campaign speech, but his audience was made up of workers at Labor Party headquarters. He thanked them for their hard work despite the party’s defeat in the May 7 local and regional elections.

“The election results were not what we wanted, it was really difficult. But you worked hard,” Starmer said. “Conditions have not been easy in the last 10 days.”

Indeed, the last two weeks have been quite exhausting for Starmer, who led the party to a landslide victory two years ago. Dozens of party members have called for him to resign, and his former allies are planning how to oust him.

Senior Labor MP Wes Streeting resigned as health secretary last week and announced he would enter the Labor leadership contest with Starmer if triggered.

Another possible rival, Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, has been granted the right to stand in the special parliamentary elections expected to be held in a few weeks. If Burnham wins, she could join the leadership race and pose a serious threat to Starmer.

Starmer pledged his full support to “whoever” is running for the open Labor seat on Monday, but said he would not resign if Burnham wins.

Upcoming local elections with big consequences

The question of who will replace Starmer as Britain’s next prime minister could be decided by some 76,000 voters in a small election in northwest England.

All eyes are on Makerfield near Manchester, where Burnham is expected to run.

Until this week, the popular mayor was ineligible to challenge Starmer because he was not a House of Commons MP.

That changed after Josh Simons, the Labor MP who held that seat, resigned to make way for Burnham.

Burnham said he would run for parliament in the Makerfield special election. He said if he won that seat he would take his work representing voters in northern England to a national level and turn around Labour’s fortunes.

“If I stand up, a vote for me will be a vote to change the Labor Party, because the Labor Party must change if we are to regain people’s trust,” he said on Monday. “I know that the proposals my party has made in the past are not good enough.”

British media reported that the Makerfield elections could be held on June 18.

Labour’s nominations close on Monday and the party’s ruling body will approve the candidate on Thursday.

Brexit rears its head again

Although he is a hugely popular and experienced Labor politician, Burnham, 56, is not certain to win the seat.

The constituency has long been a safe Labor seat, but as in much of the UK, growing numbers of voters appear to be turning to the anti-immigrant, EU-skeptic UK Reform Party.

Many voters in Makerfield supported leaving the EU in the Brexit referendum a decade ago. Reform won all wards in the constituency in the last local elections and received around half of the votes.

Burnham’s position hardened further after Streeting, the other leading rival to unseat Starmer, described Brexit as a “catastrophic mistake” on Saturday and said Britain should one day rejoin the EU.

Streeting’s speech was seen as a direct challenge to Burnham, who has previously expressed support for rejoining the EU but must walk a fine line if she wants to win at Makerfield.

Reform is likely to focus on immigration in the upcoming special election, and its leader, Nigel Farage, who played a key role in the Brexit campaign, wasted no time in attacking Burnham. Writing in the Daily Express on Monday, Farage said Burnham “wants to bring you closer to the EU”.

Burnham tried to shut this down by saying: “The last thing we need to do right now is bring these discussions back up.”

Labour’s turmoil prevents rival party from capitalizing on its stumbles

Reports of Starmer’s troubles have overshadowed those of his rivals on the right and left.

Last week, a parliamentary watchdog launched an investigation into whether Farage reported a £5 million ($6.7 million) gift from a donor.

Farage said the money from Thailand-based cryptocurrency investor Christopher Harborne came before he ran for Parliament, was not related to politics and was for his personal security. He later told the Sun newspaper that the gift was for his Brexit campaign.

Sky News reported that Farage bought a house worth 1.4 million pounds ($1.9 million) after receiving the money. But Farage said he bought the house with the money he earned from appearing on the reality show: “I’m a celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!”

Meanwhile, the leader of the Green Party, which received a share of the Labor Party’s votes, admitted that he did not vote in the last local elections.

A party spokesman said Zack Polanski had moved at the time and ran out of time to register for a new address.

Polanski also faces scrutiny for failing to pay taxes on the houseboat he lives in in east London.

He also admitted falsely claiming to be a spokesperson for the British Red Cross during his campaign to become deputy party leader in 2022.