Are you continue to Keir? PM places on awkward present of unity with rivals Rayner and Burnham – as he insists he WON’T stop if Labour suffers elections catastrophe
Keir Starmer put on an awkward show of unity with his leadership rivals today as Labour faces elections disaster.
The PM, Angela Rayner and Andy Burnham smiled for the cameras as they visited a school in Greater Manchester less than a month before local polls.
But the friendly scenes disguise raging tensions at the top of the party, with both Ms Rayner and the Manchester mayor seen as ‘on manoeuvres’ to take Sir Keir’s job.
Labour is braced for a hammering on May 7 with a swathe of councils, and the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments up for grabs.
Reform are poised to make sweeping gains, while the Greens could also inflict huge damage.
It could be a moment of extreme danger for the premier, although Donald Trump‘s war on Iran appears to have eased the pressure somewhat.
Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Andy Burnham smiled for the cameras as they visited a school in Greater Manchester less than a month before local polls
The friendly scenes disguise raging tensions at the top of the party, with both Ms Rayner and the Manchester mayor seen as ‘on manoeuvres’ to take Sir Keir’s job
Sir Keir insisted this morning that he will not quit if the elections go as badly as feared.
‘We will go in and fight these elections,’ he said.
‘But I was elected in July of 2024 with a five-year mandate to change this country, and I intend to carry through that mandate.
‘I will be judged at the next election on whether I’ve delivered, and I know that I’ll be judged on whether living standards have improved, whether our public services are better, particularly the health service, or whether people feel safe and secure as a country in a more volatile and dangerous world.’
As recently as February Sir Keir came close to being ousted over the Mandelson scandal, with the Cabinet only rallying round at the last moment.
Ms Rayner is the MP for Ashton-under-Lyne, where the primary school visit took place.
Sir Keir is digging in for a Labour meltdown by calling the King’s Speech for six days after the elections.
The PM has scheduled the State Opening for May 13, meaning that MPs will not gather at Parliament for nearly a week after the polls.
As well as limiting the opportunity for plotting, the Government laying out its plans for the coming session could also give Sir Keir the chance for a ‘reset’.
Prorogation is typically a week to a fortnight before the State Opening – likely to be April 29.
The current parliamentary session will have lasted for about 22 months, which is longer than the typical year.
During a session, ministers push through as many changes to the law as they can after laying them out in the King’s Speech.
Ms Rayner is the MP for Ashton-under-Lyne, where the primary school visit took place
A poll yesterday suggested a slew of Cabinet ministers would lose their seats if a general election was held now.
The More in Common survey found 16 out of the 22 Labour MPs who form the Prime Minister’s top team would be kicked out of the House of Commons.
Twelve of them would lose their seats to Reform UK, three would lose their seats to the Green Party, and one would lose to an independent, the research suggested.
The MRP (Multilevel Regression with Post-stratification) poll was based on voting intention data from more than 15,000 Britons.
