Sir Keir Starmer is likely to carry out a Cabinet reshuffle in the coming months as he attempts to save his premiership, Labour MPs believe.
The Prime Minister last week saw off a botched coup attempt amid widespread dismay at his performance, but his MPs are now turning their attention to how he can use the reprieve to turn around his embattled leadership.
Several senior MPs told The i Paper they expected a reshuffle of Starmer’s top team of ministers to form part of this effort to reboot the Government.
One said a reshuffle will almost definitely happen and could come within weeks, following the crunch Gorton and Denton by-election next week at which Labour is facing a twin challenge from Reform and the Greens.
Reeves’s future debated by MPs
“I think a reshuffle is a cert and will be the price post the by-election, whatever the result,” the MP said.
They added that they expect Starmer to use the shake-up to address backbench discontent about the Government whips office – designed to enforce discipline – which includes family members of senior No 10 figures.
“There is lots of talk about the boys club but so is there about the ‘family links’ – Morgan’s wife [Imogen Walker] is in there as is Amy [Richards’] husband [Gregor Poynton]. Plus [Chief Whip] Jonny [Reynolds} doesn’t want to be chief whip.”
Another MP said “we do need some new voices coming through that help turn the heat up on Reform”, adding they would like to see Lucy Powell return as party chair, having been sacked from the Cabinet in September only to be elected deputy leader a month later.
Some think Rachel Reeves is attempting to get ahead of any reshuffle by doing what one MP called “lots of private outreach, “like messaging people after their interventions in debates to say ‘thanks’ or ‘well done’”.
“It’s being taken as a sign that she needs to shore up her position,” the MP added.
Others even think Starmer could move Reeves out of the Treasury, although the majority view is that the pair’s political fortunes are too closely linked.
An MP said: “People are now openly talking about what happens after May [local elections] and whether Keir will try to reshuffle as his final roll of the dice.
“One of the casualties could be Rachel.
“He’s shown he’s ruthless and the economy is simply not picking up in the way that it should.”
Senior figures on the so-called “soft-left” wing of the party want Reeves to be replaced as chancellor by Ed Miliband.
Keir ‘has until Rayner is ready to challenge him’
A minister from that wing of the party said: “Ed has a diagnosis of what’s wrong when Keir doesn’t. He’s made it clear he doesn’t want to be leader but we all know he’d like to be chancellor. There’s a big push to get some of us back into Cabinet to rebalance it. Maybe under Keir, maybe under the next leader.”
However a Labour insider said Starmer “might not be strong enough to do anything major”, saying there has been chatter about the potential for a chancellor Miliband “but I’m not sure anyone takes it seriously, partly because of markets [reaction] and partly because Keir and Reeves are totally lashed together and will sink or swim as a pair”.
The first senior MP quoted meanwhile added: “If Rachel goes – then Keir is as weak as he his disloyal to everyone around him”.
In any case, some in the party believe Starmer will face a leadership challenge come what may.
The insider said: “Generally speaking the view is Keir has bought as much time as it takes for there to be an effective alternative to him, which there isn’t at the moment.
“He has until Wes [Streeting] can clean up his Mandelson-related messes and Angela [Rayner] can get past [an] HMRC [tax investigation]. The decision on whether he’s changed enough will be taken at that point”
Another MP said a reshuffle will change nothing: “he’s burning bridges left right and centre and won’t make a difference – the only thing keeping him in place is everyone’s horror of the alternatives but one more mistake and they will get over that”
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