Sir Keir Starmer has told allies he believes he can win a leadership contest as his premiership teeters on the brink.
According to sources, he has seen private polling which suggests he could still win a ballot of the Labour Party membership.
However, one MP joked that he would only win if the only other candidate was Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, who has become a lightening rod for criticism after the public backlash to her plans to axe winter fuel payments and raise taxes.
It comes as the PM threw down the gauntlet to his rivals in this morning’s Cabinet meeting and dared them to challenge him. He told the Cabinet: “The Labour Party had a process for challenging a leader and that has not been triggered.”
One MP said the PM was right to try to flush out his rivals: “If they’ve not got the bottle to put their names on a nomination form, then he is right to tell them to put up or shut up.”
Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, who is widely seen as one of the frontrunners in the race to succeed Starmer, left Cabinet without speaking to the media, despite other ministers publicly showing their support for the PM.
Andy Burnham, another leadership frontrunner, arrived in London shortly after midday. There is widespread speculation that he might be about to announce that he has found an MP willing to step aside for him – paving the way for his return to Westminster.
Starmer ‘rebuffed’ Streeting’s attempt to speak to him at Cabinet
Despite claims last night that Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, was among a contingent of senior ministers to urge the Prime Minister to set out a timetable for his departure, none of the Cabinet directly challenged him during morning’s meeting. One minister present told The i Paper that it was a “serious discussion” focused on the Strait of Hormuz.
A government source said: “Keir said in Cabinet that he won’t discuss the elections or his leadership, and that he will only speak to cabinet ministers about that individually. Then after the meeting he refused to see Cabinet ministers individually.”
Streeting was one of a number of Cabinet ministers who tried to speak to the PM after the Cabinet meeting but the PM refused to speak to them, The i Paper understands.
Today’s resignations ‘the tip of the iceberg’
As pressure continues to mount on the PM, Jess Phillips, the Safeguarding Minister, became the second minister to resign in the wake of the disastrous local election results.
In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, Phillips called on Starmer to step down, saying she could not “keep waiting around for a crisis to push for faster progress”.
She added: “Over a year ago I presented solutions, long worked on by brilliant civil servants that would end the ability for children in the UK to take naked images of themselves. 91 per cent of online child sex abuse is self-generated by children groomed, tricked and exploited in to abuse. The technology exists to stop children being able to take naked images of themselves. We could make this possible on every phone and device in the country. We could stop this abuse. It has taken me a year to get you to agree to even threaten to legislate in this space. Not legislate, just threaten. This is the definition of incremental change. Nothing bold about it. The announcement was meant to be in March, I’m still on a promise this will happen in June, I’ve given up believing it. How many children were left without a safety net in the time we dilly dallied and worried about tech bosses?”
Earlier on Tuesday, Miatta Fahnbulleh resigned as Minister for Devolution, Faith and Communities. In a letter she told the PM “to do the right thing for the country and the party and set a timetable for an orderly transition” as the public had lost trust in him because of issues such as the scrapping of the winter fuel payment.
‘What the f*ck are their policies?’
A Government source told this newspaper that these resignations were just the “tip of the iceberg” – suggesting that more ministers will quit in the coming hours.
However, there are signs that Starmer’s allies are trying to launch a rearguard action against the ongoing coup, which has so far seen 85 MPs call on the PM to stand aside.
A Government source said Starmer loyalists were vowing “no surrender” to the leadership plotters, adding of contenders for PM: “What the f*ck are their policies?”
A Labour source said: “I’m hearing there is a groundswell of backbenchers mobilising against those who have come forward in the last two days. I understand that Cabinet was largely supportive of the PM, with many comments highlighting the economic and political impact of a leadership challenge. I also understand that the vast majority of junior ministers are frustrated by the actions of Miatta — an individual who continues to believe that Ed Miliband would make a good PM, despite the public having already rejected him.”
Speaking after the Cabinet meeting, Baroness Jenny Chapman said she was not surprised there was no direct challenge to Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership.
“I didn’t think they would be challenging the Prime Minister at Cabinet,” she said.
“We have got a job to do. It’s a really serious task. The Prime Minister is leading us in that task and everybody around that table is completely focused on delivering for this country.”
Starmer’s handling of the UK response to the war in Iran was praised by several Cabinet ministers during their meeting this morning, The i Paper was told. A number of ministers made positive references to Starmer’s leadership, particularly in the context of the UK government’s response to the Middle East. Besides the PM’s opening remarks about a contest, this was the main focus of discussion in the context of Starmer’s premiership.
In a show of support, several ministers took the unusual step of speaking to the gathered press outside No10 after the Cabinet meeting, including Business Secretary Peter Kyle, Technology Secretary Liz Kendall and Housing Secretary Steve Reed.
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