Gord assist us as under-fire Starmer brings in failed PM to assist him maintain energy

Downing Street spokesman say Brown’s unpaid role will see him offer advice on how to ‘build a stronger Britain’ in a bid to save his floundering premiership

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Under-threat Keir Starmer has been brutally mocked for turning to former PM Gordon Brown as he battles to cling on to power.

The Labour leader is facing mounting pressure to quit with 33 of his own MPs calling on him to resign after being hammered in the local elections.

Desperate Sir Keir handed a surprise top job to Brown as Special Envoy on Global Finance in a bid to save his floundering premiership.

A Downing Street spokesman said that the unpaid role will see him offer advice on how to “build a stronger Britain, boosting the country’s security and resilience”.

The move came after he also appointed Harriet Harman, the former Labour deputy leader, as his Adviser on Women and Girls.

But Reform leader Nigel Farage, whose party surged in the polls, ridiculed Sir Keir’s shock decision to bring in Brown in the wake of the devastating election wipe-out.

He sniped: “An unpopular Prime Minister who lost a general election is now seen by Starmer as being the saviour – Labour are doomed.”

The new job announcements came after Labour lost more than 1,400 councillors, slipped to third in Wales, and is tied with Reform in Scotland well behind the SNP.

Labour MPs and ministers blasted the appointments as “pure gimmick” and “nonsense” that suggests Sir Keir doesn’t “grasp the scale of the challenge”.

One senior backbencher called it “nuts” while a cabinet minister joked: “I’m waiting for the ghost of Barbara Castle to appear on the steps of Number 10.”

Three MPs have also stuck their head above the parapet to publicly condemn Sir Keir, including former minister Catherine West.

The Hornsey MP said that the PM’s approach “is not cutting through… unless things change, we risk Nigel Farage becoming Prime Minister.

“That’s why, with regret and significant sadness, I firmly believe that Keir should outline his intention to resign as Prime Minister and oversee an orderly transition.”

Debbie Abrahams, the MP for Oldham East, said she thinks “it is a matter of months” before Starmer will have to decide whether to resign if he doesn’t turn things around.

And Sheffield South East MP Clive Betts demanded: “There is a responsibility on the Cabinet to recognise this can’t carry on forever.”

But Sir Keir ally Lucy Powell condemned her colleagues’ plotting and warned that a leadership coup would make the party look “ludicrous”.

The Labour deputy leader argued that Sir Keir “is accepting responsibility, he is saying we’ve got to change. He hears what people are saying”.

She maintained that he will still be PM in six months’ time and lashed out at 33 of their MPs demanding a change of leadership and fumed: “I don’t want to hear about that anymore. I want us to get on with the job.”

Defiant Sir Keir admitted the local election results had been “really tough” and he would “reflect and respond” to the message delivered by voters but is going nowhere.

He added: “I’m not going to walk away and plunge the country into chaos, I think the right thing to do is to rebuild and show the path forward.”

Daily Star Says

IS Sir Keir Starmer ok? Can someone go and do a check on him. He’s trying to Keep Starm and Carry On but there are signs that the Prime Minister is losing the plot.

He has rejected ever mounting calls to resign after an historic and catastrophic defeat in local elections. Instead he has declared that he will “rebuild” the party. And his first move in this, is to bring back Gordon Brown in an advisory role.

Gordon Bennet would be a better choice. Brown is a former Prime Minister who was as widely unpopular as Keir is now. How is that going to boost confidence in his leadership?

And on top of that he’s brought in another blast from the past, Harriet Harman as an advisor too. Who’s next? Neil Kinnock? Why stop there? Why not do a seance and bring back the ghosts of Harold Wilson and Clement Atlee?

It seems foolish to think that Starmer can fix the mess he has created in his own ranks by harking back to the past. Especially as Keir’s largely in this mess due to his appointment of a Labour stalwart Peter Mandelson into the role of US Ambassador.

Does he not learn? Labour needs new blood for its bid to reignite its popularity in country, not failed has-beens. And more than anything it needs a new leader. And it needs one sooner rather than later. Or they will be a thing of the past for good.