Rebel Labour MP calls on Cabinet member to topple Keir Starmer on dwell TV

Catherine West urged Bridget Phillipson to stand against Keir Starmer – having warned that if Cabinet members do not pick a leader on Monday, she will challenge the PM herself

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A Labour MP threatening to topple Keir Starmer has challenged a Cabinet member to move against the PM on live TV.

Catherine West urged Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson to put herself forward and bring down the Prime Minister in a dramatic moment in a BBC studio. Earlier Ms Phillipson had dismissed Ms West’s bold challenge after the backbencher called on the Cabinet to pick a new leader by Monday.

On Saturday Ms West dramatically put Cabinet members “on notice” that if they do not topple Mr Starmer, she will. The former Foreign Office minister told ministers that if they do not pick a new leader among themselves, she would put herself forward.

In order to do so, she would need the backing of 81 Labour MPs. But Ms West said she would listen to what Mr Starmer says in a make-or-break speech on Monday before pulling the trigger.

READ MORE: Keir Starmer plans to slash bills and fight off leadership challengers as he battles election falloutREAD MORE: Labour MP Catherine West warns cabinet ministers – ‘Topple Keir Starmer today or I will”

Sitting next to Ms Phillipson on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Ms West said: “There’s nothing stopping Bridget from standing. Why are all the men better than the women?

“We do need some senior women to step forward and to challenge for what is going to be a really difficult two and a half years between now and the general election, and also to take us into that second term.”

Ms Phillipson responded: “I love you dearly, Catherine, but I just disagree on this one.” Mr Starmer himself has vowed to fight on, telling the Sunday Mirror he wants to see through his 10-year project to change the country.

Ms West told Ms Kuenssberg: “If you are a school failing an inspection report, you would take the head out, wouldn’t you? Or you take the chair of the council out.

“The same goes for a hospital inspection or in a company CEO would have to take responsibility and the board would have to basically bring on new leadership.”

She said the party needs to “modernise” and accused Labour of looking “very dated”. But she said she would wait to hear what Mr Starmer says in a make-or-break on Monday.

Ms West stated: “I’m a fair person, I will hear what the Prime Minister’s got to say tomorrow, and then if I’m still dissatisfied, I will put out my email to the Parliamentary Labour Party asking for names (to support her).

“And the reason I’m doing that is not for me. It’s for working people. Because labor is the only party that can beat Reform.”

Earlier, asked if she expects Catherine West to get the backing she needs to potentially bring down the PM, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “I don’t think that will happen.”

Ms Phillipson told Sky News’ Sir Trevor Phillips: “Catherine is a great colleague, and I’ve known her a long time.

“And I have real respect for Catherine, but on this one I do part company with her. I think she’s got this completely wrong.

“What I do recognise, however, is that Catherine – like lots of other colleagues and like lots of candidates who stood in the elections that we’ve just had – are really hurting, really hurting this morning. And I feel that too.

“On Friday morning I felt absolutely sick to the bottom of my stomach about the scale of the defeat that we’d suffered. And we got a real kicking, from the voters. There’s there’s no escaping that.”

Asked by Sir Trevor if she thought Ms West would get the required support, Ms Phillipson said: “I don’t think that will happen, but I think in a sense that’s almost besides the point.

“Because whilst I disagree with what Catherine is doing, I do understand the the worry, the hurt, the pain that people are feeling.”

Asked if Mr Starmer would lead Labour into the next general election, and whether she wanted him to, the Education Secretary said: “Yes, on both counts.”

Ms Phillipson insisted the Government can still turn things around – but said Labour had been “too gloomy and too negative” early on.

She said: “People knew the country was in a mess. They didn’t need us to remind them in such detail that the country was in a mess. And whilst it’s right that we pin all of those problems on 14 years of Tory government, people voted for change for a reason.

“They didn’t want to hear about that. They wanted us to focus on what we as a Government were going to deliver. So and I think those two things are linked.

“But I do think that there was early mistakes, embedded a sense of gloom when actually we have a unique opportunity to deliver a better future for our country. And we still have that opportunity.”

All eyes will be on Wes Streeting and Angela Rayner – tipped as potential leadership contenders – on whether they will make a move against the PM following Ms West’s intervention.

On Saturday Ms West said she had been “surprised” that leadership rivals including Wes Streeting and Angela Rayner had held their fire so far.