REVEALED: Inside Labour plot to destroy Starmer. ‘It’s all anybody talks about,’ hears DAN HODGES – as he unmasks No 10’s makes an attempt to cease bid by ‘Action Man’ determined to oust PM

As the cameras panned across the veterans striding proudly down Whitehall two Sundays ago, one lens fell on a tall, lantern-jawed figure in a dark grey suit and green Royal Marines beret. The BBC’s main announcer didn’t seem to notice him, or if they did, didn’t think his presence was worthy of comment.

But an increasingly significant number of Labour MPs have noticed him. To the extent that some of them have begun to quietly discuss whether he should become their next leader.

‘Al Carns’ name is now in the frame,’ one MP told me. ‘It may seem too soon. But to be honest, the party is becoming desperate. And a few people are starting to think it might be time to take a gamble.’

Carns, the recently elected member for Birmingham Selly Oak, certainly has the perfect CV for leading the mission impossible that is the task of dragging Labour back from political oblivion.

A former officer in the elite Special Boat Service, he was mentioned in dispatches, and won the Military Cross for his service in Afghanistan. More recently he was involved in some shadowy activities ‘advising’ the Ukrainians in their fight against the Russians.

As one admirer claimed: ‘Carns is the real deal. He comes with a proper action grip.’

For the past 16 months, Labour’s Action Man has been languishing in relative obscurity – first as veterans minister, and more recently as minister for the Armed Forces. But according to one colleague, this anonymity has not been through choice.

‘He’s offered to do the media round a number of times,’ one fellow backbencher reveals, ‘but Morgan [McSweeney, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff] doesn’t like the idea of using him too much. He thinks he might overshadow Starmer.’

But finding someone who can shunt our hopelessly inadequate Prime Minister into the shade is what’s currently topping the agenda of the Parliamentary Labour Party. Which is why Carns’ name is now being floated.

On Friday he was finally allowed out of barracks by Downing Street to lead Labour’s response to the jailing of Reform’s former Welsh leader Nathan Gill. ‘No patriotic British political party should allow pro-Russian elements to covertly have an influence on our political system,’ he chided in his steely, Aberdeen brogue.

Which is also precisely why Carns is starting to attract attention. According to friends, he is becoming increasingly frustrated at what he sees as his party’s failure to take the gloves off with Nigel Farage, and tackle him head-on over his flag-waving populism.

‘Al is really angry we haven’t been pushing back harder over the whole flag and country agenda,’ one MP told me.

Another pointed to Carns’ exploits in May, where he and some former Special Forces friends completed an arduous charity trek to the top of Mount Everest.

‘You’ve got people like Farage and Robert Jenrick running around bragging about putting British flags up on lamp-posts,’ one said. ‘Al’s just put one on the top of Everest.’

A number of Carns’ fellow MPs remain sceptical of whether he can be considered as a serious replacement for Starmer so soon in his political career. But friends say he enjoys some serious backing among his fellow backbenchers, and even some ministers.

‘When the deputy leadership opened up, Al was seriously considering standing, and started canvassing for support. He’d got 44 names, but then No 10 stepped in and told him to park it. They wanted everyone throwing their weight behind Bridget [Phillipson, the Education Secretary].’

Other critics point to Carns’ lack of significant front-rank political experience. ‘They can’t be serious? What are his politics? What does anyone really know about the guy?’ one bemused MP told me.

But again, his allies counter by pointing to his impressive CV. Carns served as a senior military adviser to three Tory defence secretaries, and is said to have a good hands-on knowledge of the defence and foreign affairs briefs.

As another backbencher told me: ‘He’s got experience. Remember that question Ed [Miliband] got, “Are you tough enough to stand up to Vladimir Putin?” Well, Al

Carns was in Ukraine literally telling the Ukrainians how to sink Putin’s ships.’

One MP I spoke to questioned whether, following the disastrous experiment with Keir Starmer, Labour MPs – and perhaps even more significantly, Labour members – would really consider handing the leadership to someone who was a political empty-slate.

‘I don’t see someone getting another blank cheque to shape the party in their image unless everyone has a crystal-clear picture of what that image is going to be.’

But there are some people who take the opposite view, and think that if Labour are to have any chance of reversing their political death spiral, they have to reach across to a whole new generation, unaligned with the failure of the past 16 months, and untainted by the stigma of decades of perceived establishment betrayal.

‘There’s no point in getting rid of Keir only to create a new government that is packed full of all the same people who were sitting around the Cabinet table while everything went to s***,’ said one.

Whatever the reality, the fact that some of Carns’ colleagues are even having a discussion about him potentially replacing Starmer is instructive. First, it shows just how embedded the prospect of his removal is in the psyche of Sir Keir’s MPs.

‘It’s all anyone talks about now,’ one admitted.

It also shows how the search to identify Starmer’s replacement has now moved beyond Labour’s established factions.

It’s been an open secret that Wes Streeting, Angela Rayner and Andy Burnham have been on manoeuvres for several months. But the fact the plotters are now flirting with outsiders like Al Carns shows how far and wide the discontent over Starmer has spread.

It also shows the extent of Labour MPs’ desperation. At Westminster last week there was mounting speculation among some backbenchers that Keir Starmer has privately made the decision to step down in the New Year.

One who chatted to him in the Commons earlier in the week expressed surprise at how relaxed he was.

‘He was very chilled,’ they told me. ‘Not like someone who had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Or expects to have them for that much longer.’

A minister pointed to the letter to his son Starmer had penned to mark International Men’s Day. ‘I thought that was an odd thing for him to do,’ they said. ‘He’s not keen on talking about his family like that. I thought there was something valedictory about it.’

This may just be wishful thinking. As could the idea of ushering Labour’s very own Action Man into No 10.

But one thing is certain. If Al Carns does choose to move against Keir Starmer, the PM won’t hear him coming until it’s too late.