Steve Reed has urged Labour MPs not to force Keir Starmer out after the May elections, warning against copying the Conservatives' leadership turmoil as the party faces possible losses of more than 1,500 council seats in England and electoral setbacks in Scotland and Wales.
Reed urges MPs to focus on Thursday
The communities secretary said most MPs and council leaders don't want a leadership contest distracting the government from housing and public services. Speaking to Times Radio, Steve Reed dismissed the prospect of Labour cycling through leaders. Originally reported by The Guardian.
"I speak to a lot of my fellow MPs, of course I do, all the time, but also council leaders, and they're sick and tired of all this psychodrama," Steve Reed said.
"They want us to focus as a party on what we need to do to get our vote out this coming Thursday. There are really important issues about who runs our councils, whether we can build the social housing that this country needs, whether we can improve the public services that people use," Steve Reed told Times Radio.
Steve Reed added: "The whole notion that we would copy the Conservatives and go doomscrolling through leaders in a way that means the government is completely incapable of dealing with the things that matter to most of the British public is absolute nonsense, and I'm not going to engage in it, and most of our MPs would not engage in that either."
Departure timetable discussed as election losses loom
Behind the public appeals for unity, MPs worried that Starmer's unpopularity makes him unable to lead Labour into the next general election are understood to have discussed presenting him with a timetable for departure.
A direct leadership challenge is another possibility. But would-be contenders, including Wes Streeting and Angela Rayner, are said to be unlikely to make the first move against the prime minister. That leaves uncertainty over how dissatisfaction might become an organised attempt to remove him.
MPs who spoke to the Guardian expressed scepticism about a letter calling on Starmer to set out an exit timetable. Some nevertheless believe a longer transition would help the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, by allowing him time to return to Westminster.
The electoral stakes extend beyond England's councils. Labour faces a struggle for second place in Scotland and the possibility of losing Wales after a century of domination. Together with potential English losses, that would leave thousands of angry local politicians who regard themselves as casualties of the government's unpopularity. Reed's warning against leadership upheaval comes with that prospect hanging over MPs and local campaigners alike.
Cabinet resistance exposes a divide with newer MPs
The vast majority of Cabinet Ministers are thought to be unwilling to move against Starmer. Their resistance points to a divide over whether replacing the leader would resolve Labour's problems or compound them.
One unnamed cabinet minister accused backbenchers, particularly newer MPs, of complacency. The minister argued that they wrongly assume any Labour leader could have won the last election, deny Starmer credit for that victory and consequently feel free to plot his replacement.
A second unnamed cabinet minister said members of the 2024 intake had experienced only the electoral upswing: winning seats rather than enduring a midterm thrashing. More experienced backbenchers, the minister suggested, had lived through that cycle before, while newer colleagues were anxious about the reversal.
Another unnamed cabinet minister linked calls for a departure timetable to Burnham's supporters, characterising the manoeuvring as pressure to let him back into the party. That assessment casts the timetable proposal as more than a judgment on Starmer's prospects: its timing could also affect who is positioned to succeed him. For now, however, neither those discussions nor speculation about possible contenders amounts to a confirmed challenge against the prime minister.
Thursday's results will test whether cabinet calls for stability can contain backbench discontent. Heavy losses would intensify pressure from defeated local politicians, but turning that anger into a leadership change would still require MPs and potential challengers to act.
Originally reported by The Guardian. View original.