Amidst a barrage of requests for his resignation, Keir Starmer’s “make or break” fightback address seems to have failed last night.
The troubled prime minister warned that a coup would send Britain into “chaos” in an attempt to stop it.
However, the long list of Labour MPs urging him to reconsider his position reached over 70 last night, suggesting that yesterday’s intervention was a failure.
Even if he were to be challenged for leadership this week, Sir Keir declared in a speech to party activists that he would not “walk away.”
A contest now, he cautioned, would run the risk of “plunging our country into chaos, as the Tories did time and again – chaos that did lasting damage to this country.”
He declared that Labour will “never be forgiven for inflicting that on our country again.”
However, the Prime Minister’s detractors in the Labour Party claimed that the speech had not succeeded in winning them over.
The speech, according to Maverick backbencher Catherine West, was “too little, too late.”
Following a barrage of requests for his resignation last night, Keir Starmer’s “make or break” fightback address seems to have failed.
Ms. West pushed MPs to sign a letter demanding that the PM provide a timeline for stepping down, but she withdrew her threat to mount an urgent leadership challenge.
In the disastrous local elections held last week, Labour lost 38 councils and 1,500 council members in England, falling to third place in Wales and Scotland. According to Labour MPs, voters directly attacked Sir Keir, calling him “detested on the doorstep.”
Although the PM admitted that voters were “frustrated” with him, he maintained that he could win them over.
“I am aware that there are people who are frustrated with me, with politics, and with the state of Britain.” “I know I have my doubters, and I know I need to prove them wrong, and I will.”
The PM was right to “acknowledge mistakes he made” and the personal enmity towards him, according to Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, who was called upon to defend him on the radio.
“No, it’s not enough, to go out and make a speech, but it is certainly the right thing to have done in this moment – to go out and acknowledge the mistakes that have been made, to acknowledge, the role that he’s personally played in that,” she said to Sky News when asked if he had done enough to save his skin.
Sir Keir outlined a number of new initiatives, such as a plan to place the UK “at the heart of Europe,” legislation to nationalise British Steel, and a ban on “far-Right agitators” travelling to the UK for a planned march on Saturday.
However, he refrained from revealing the kind of drastic change that many Labour MPs had been calling for, arguing that it would be foolish to alter course in the face of “tough” election results.
He described the current political situation as a “battle for the soul” of the United Kingdom and warned that the nation would go down “a very dark path” if Labour failed.
The speech, according to Maverick backbencher Catherine West, was “too little, too late.”
“This is nothing less than a battle for the soul of our nation, and I want to be crystal clear about how we will win because we cannot win as a weaker version of Reform or the Greens. We can only win as a stronger version of Labour, a mainstream party of power, not protest,” stated Sir Keir.
Zack Polanski and Nigel Farage lacked “the serious progressive leadership these times demand,” according to Sir Keir. He claimed that Mr. Farage had led the nation into a botched Brexit and was “not just a grifter, he is a chancer.”
The Prime Minister said that the government will make “a big leap forward” in the direction of the European Union, but he was unable to clarify what this would actually entail.
Up until today, Sir Keir has adhered to Labour’s 2024 election promise that the UK would not go back to free movement or enter the single market or customs union. However, he did not respond when asked if he was ruling out the party’s next manifesto, which called for re-entry into the EU.
“What I want to do is take a big leap forward with the EU-UK summit this year and take us closer, both on trade, the economy, defence, and security,” he retorted. And that will serve as a foundation for future development.
Later, his spokesperson stated that “the next manifesto is a matter for the party” and that the so-called red lines on Brexit only apply until the general election.
In addition to claiming that Brexit “snatched away” young people’s opportunities to live, work, and study in Europe, Sir Keir promised to reach an agreement with Brussels on a “ambitious” youth experience program.
‘They need to go immediately and be seen to go now or it’s a waste of time,’ said prominent pro-EU Labour MP Stella Creasy, who later encouraged him to abandon his red lines on Brexit.
However, several cautioned that it would just cause more Red Wall supporters to defect to Reform, with prominent Labour colleague Lord Glasman stating: “A speech realigning with the EU is absolutely not going to resolve the estrangement of working-class voters from Labour.” There is nothing worse that I can think of.
Following the speech, a few backbenchers voiced their support for the prime minister, including Michael Payne of Gedling and Tim Roca of Macclesfield, who said Sir Keir had shown he recognised “the scale of the challenge” facing the nation.
However, many more persisted in demanding his resignation.
David Smith, the MP for North Northumberland and the UK’s special envoy for freedom of religion or belief since 2024, stated that although Labour owed Sir Keir “a debt of gratitude,” they were unable to “carry on with the approach we have taken” since the General Election.
