1 hour ago Labour MPs say Starmer will quit in the New Year... before he's forced to face a leadership challenge

Despite Labour languishing at 18 percent in the polls - and Cabinet colleagues openly jostling for his job, one backbencher who met him recently said: 'He was very chilled.

Politics

62 h. ago Labour plot to oust Starmer gathers pace: Andy Burnham refuses to rule out challenging PM and thanks rebel for offer to QUIT so he can make Commons comeback

Andy Burnham is at the centre of renewed speculation after a rebel MP dramatically offered to give up his seat.

Events

63 h. ago Labour plot to oust Starmer gathers pace as Andy Burnham refuses to rule out challenging PM and thanks rebel for offer to QUIT so he can challenge struggling PM

Andy Burnham is at the centre of renewed speculation after a rebel MP dramatically offered to give up his seat.

Events

64 h. ago Andy Burnham dodges on Labour MP's offer to QUIT so he can challenge struggling Keir Starmer

Andy Burnham is at the centre of renewed speculation after a rebel MP dramatically offered to give up his seat.

Events

5 d. ago Starmer facing backlash from Labour MPs over ‘cruel’ asylum reforms

The controversial plans to tackle the asylum system have been likened to the policies of far right activist Tommy Robinson

Events

5 d. ago Mahmood sets out plans for tougher asylum system in face of Labour resistance

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said even people who are genuine refugees ‘asylum shop’ their way across Europe before choosing the UK.

Events

5 d. ago Starmer facing growing backlash from Labour MPs as Mahmood sets out asylum plans – UK politics live

Home secretary to announce a drastic tightening of rules, including requiring asylum seekers to wait 20 years before getting the right to permanently settle in UKMomentum, the leftwing Labour group, has also denounced the government’s asylum plans. In a statement it says:The home secretary’s new immigration plans are divisive and xenophobic.Scapegoating migrants will not fix our public services or end austerity.Draconian, unworkable and potentially illegal anti-asylum policies only feed Reform’s support.The government has learnt nothing from the period since the general election.Some of the legal changes being proposed are truly frightening:Abolishing the right to a family life would ultimately affect many more people than asylum-seekers. Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago Starmer braced for backlash from Labour MPs as Mahmood sets out asylum plans – UK politics live

Home secretary to announce a drastic tightening of rules, including requiring asylum seekers to wait 20 years before getting the right to permanently settle in UKMomentum, the leftwing Labour group, has also denounced the government’s asylum plans. In a statement it says:The home secretary’s new immigration plans are divisive and xenophobic.Scapegoating migrants will not fix our public services or end austerity.Draconian, unworkable and potentially illegal anti-asylum policies only feed Reform’s support.The government has learnt nothing from the period since the general election.Some of the legal changes being proposed are truly frightening:Abolishing the right to a family life would ultimately affect many more people than asylum-seekers. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Sharks circle wounded Starmer: Now Angela Rayner makes her pitch to Labour saying she has 'not gone away'

The humiliating failure of No10's pre-emptive strike on rivals last week has effectively fired the starting gun on a race to succeed Keir Starmer.

Politics

8 d. ago ‘Their credibility has been shot to pieces’: Labour MPs turn on Starmer and Reeves

Income tax U-turn adds to mood of despair among party’s backbenchers

Politics

8 d. ago Anarchy in government as PM's 'nemesis' Wes Streeting celebrates Reeves' humiliating income tax U

Health Secretary Wes Streeting - seemingly emboldened by a botched Downing Street 'hit job' on his leadership ambitions this week - has publicly declared that he had not supported the move.

Politics

8 d. ago Markets get jitters after Reeves DROPS Budget plan to hike income tax amid panic that Labour MPs will oust Starmer but she could slash thresholds instead to fill £30bn black hole

The Pound has already taken a hit after the extraordinary U-turn emerged overnight, following weeks of signals that the move would go ahead.

Economics

8 d. ago Markets hammer Reeves after she DROPS Budget plan to hike income tax amid panic that Labour MPs will oust Starmer but she could slash thresholds instead to fill £30bn black hole

The Pound has already taken a hit after the extraordinary U-turn emerged overnight, following weeks of signals that the move would go ahead.

Economics

9 d. ago Starmer was never meant to be Labour’s prime minister – his leadership was doomed from the start | Neal Lawson

His alliance with the party’s anti-Corbyn faction was a shotgun marriage that totally lacked vision. Now Labour is paying the priceWes Streeting was always meant to be their Labour prime minister. The plan, hatched by a tiny clique of rightwing faction fighters, was this: find a candidate on whom they could fake a continuation Corbynism project to win the leadership. Then kick the ladder away from the people who backed them and the promises they made. At the next general election, given the scale of the Tory majority after 2019, get Labour back in the ring with more MPs and then hand over to Streeting. The real grownups would then be in charge and the subsequent election would be secured.But no one reckoned with Covid, Tory turmoil and the collapse of the SNP. Suddenly Keir Starmer wasn’t going to just lead Labour to a better defeat and a springboard for victory next time. Against the odds, he was going to win. Just as Jeremy Corbyn was Labour’s accidental leader in 2015, Starmer wa...

Politics

9 d. ago Starmer’s backers never meant him to be prime minister – his leadership was doomed from the start | Neal Lawson

His alliance with the party’s anti-Corbyn faction was a shotgun marriage that totally lacked vision. Now Labour is paying the priceWes Streeting was always meant to be their Labour prime minister. The plan, hatched by a tiny clique of rightwing faction fighters, was this: find a candidate on whom they could fake a continuation Corbynism project to win the leadership. Then kick the ladder away from the people who backed them and the promises they made. At the next general election, given the scale of the Tory majority after 2019, get Labour back in the ring with more MPs and then hand over to Streeting. The real grownups would then be in charge and the subsequent election would be secured.But no one reckoned with Covid, Tory turmoil and the collapse of the SNP. Suddenly Keir Starmer wasn’t going to just lead Labour to a better defeat and a springboard for victory next time. Against the odds, he was going to win. Just as Jeremy Corbyn was Labour’s accidental leader in 2015, Starmer wa...

Politics

1 week ago A word of warning to the hounds circling Starmer: be careful what you wish for | Martin Kettle

With this level of unpopularity, the question of the PM’s future may seem simple. But what comes next could be nastily complicatedBe absolutely clear. Keir Starmer is in very deep trouble indeed. Perhaps belatedly, he himself grasps this. His team and his ministers knew it already. His party and the public get it too. For this deeply unpopular Labour prime minister, the words approval rating are a contradiction in terms.The eruption of speculation about Starmer’s future this week may have taken people by surprise. Where did that suddenly come from? The short answer is that No 10 briefed the latest twist – that Starmer expects to face and defeat a leadership challenge – on Tuesday evening. The longer one is that the Starmer leadership issue has been steadily gaining traction and credibility among MPs since the summer. This story is not a Westminster confection. Politically, it is very real. Dismiss it at your peril.Martin Kettle is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago How could Starmer be ousted? 81 Labour MPs would need to back a challenger or the Cabinet walks out

Keir Starmer's allies have delivered a stark warning that he will not go without a fight if challenged.

Politics

1 week ago Keir Starmer to face PMQs amid claims of potential challenge to his leadership

The Prime Minister will face MPs after a briefing war emerged on Tuesday night in an attempt to see off supposed challenges to his authority.

Politics

1 week ago BBC warned it faces 'last chance' after Trump meltdown: Labour MPs scramble to prop up the broadcaster

The BBC is reeling after director general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness stepped down in the wake of an internal report detecting bias and censorship.

Events

2 w. ago Starmer ‘facing plots to oust him’ as Labour welcomes back rebel MPs

Conversations around Sir Keir Starmer’s future have reportedly increased in recent weeks, amid continued turmoil in the government

Politics