Keir Starmer is facing a laundry list of left-wing demands as he struggles to keep his grip on power.
The PM signalled a lurch to a more socialist programme yesterday after a political near-death experience over the Mandelson scandal.
With the threat level to his premiership still critically high, Sir Keir deployed the language of class war insisting working people were being oppressed.
But rivals such as Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are waiting in the wings, with the Health Secretary last night forced to deny he is plotting a move to oust the PM within weeks.
Sir Keir’s weakness has opened the door for a host of MPs to push pet left-wing policies, such as a ‘wealth tax’, more generous benefits and nationalisation.
Plans to give 16-year-olds the vote could also be speeded up, as the premier attempts to appease his mutinous troops.
Andy Burnham and Cabinet minister Ed Miliband – often nicknamed ‘Red Ed’ – led the charge for a more radical approach yesterday.
The Manchester mayor accused politicians in London of getting ‘too close to wealth’ and being ‘seduced’ by free market economic solutions to social problems.
Keir Starmer signalled a lurch to a more socialist programme yesterday after a political near-death experience over the Mandelson scandal
Rivals such as Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting (pictured) are waiting in the wings
Ms Rayner is regarded as on manoeuvres for the leadership, but has backed the PM to continue
Among changes he suggested were a commitment to build 500,000 council and social homes by the end of the decade, and give councils the power to compulsorily purchase substandard homes from private landlords.
He also used his speech at a think tank conference to lament how privatisation of utilities had taken power away from the poor.
Backbencher Andy McDonald said the government should ‘do more’ of measures like the controversial employment rights overhaul – which was championed by Ms Rayner but caused panic among businesses.
‘What a ridiculous situation where water companies are extracting these dividends. Let’s take on those things, let’s be bold in the offer that we are making to the British people,’ he told Channel 4 News.
Labour MP Neil Duncan-Jordan is demanding the government sweeps away means-testing and ‘opt-ins’ that ‘create barriers’ for people claiming benefits.
Meanwhile, former frontbencher Clive Lewis yesterday suggested that Sir Keir should take a more confrontational approach to Donald Trump.
In a debate on a Ministry of Defence contract with Palantir, Mr Lewis said: ‘Surely, after Greenland, now is an opportunity for our Government to begin to distance themselves and pivot away from companies, such as Palantir, that are so closely connected with Donald Trump. It is time to move away.’
Sir Keir gathered ministers for a Cabinet meeting yesterday thanking them for their support despite more than 24 hours of deathly silence in the wake of his chief aide’s resignation over the Mandelson scandal.
They only finally rallied round after Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar demanded he quit – with questions swirling about what concessions and deals Sir Keir might have made for his survival.
Addressing the Resolution Foundation’s Unsung Britain conference, Mr Burnham said: ‘Following recent events, I think the time has come to call an end to this era in British politics when politicians got too close to wealth, too seduced by the notion that deregulated markets would provide the solution when in fact they have been the problem for those on the lowest incomes.’
Outlining his effort to nationalise the bus service in Manchester he added: ‘I would say that in recent decades Westminster politicians have not been prepared to do these hard things.
‘But if we are serious about solving the simultaneous housing and cost of living crises then they will need to be so.
‘Our aim as a country should be very explicit: lower rents, lower water bills, lower energy bills, lower rail fares, lower bus fares.’
Many in Labour still believe the PM is doomed, with the government having been forced to commit to releasing far more damaging internal messages with Mandelson.
Labour MP Neil Duncan-Jordan is demanding the government sweeps away means-testing and ‘opt-ins’ that ‘create barriers’ for people claiming benefits
He is facing losing his Cabinet Secretary Chris Wormald in the coming days, after the departure of right-hand man Morgan McSweeney and communications chief Tim Allan.
The party is fighting to hang on in the by-election for Gorton & Denton – a traditionally safe seat – on February 26.
And local elections in May are widely expected to be a bloodbath, with the looming catastrophe in Scotland thought to have sparked Mr Sarwar’s dramatic assassination bid.
Ms Rayner is regarded as on manoeuvres for the leadership, but has backed the PM to continue. She has still not resolved issues with HMRC over the unpaid stamp duty bill that forced her resignation as Deputy PM last September.