As support for Keir Starmer slips away with public demands he goes from Labour MPs I would be interested in your thoughts.
It is bizarre that the favoured replacement for many Labour MPs would be Andy Burnham who is not an MP. Who would give up their seat for him? Could he win a by election in these difficult conditions for his party?
May 12, 2026
Hopefully Steeting as possibly the least incompetent.
Rayner and Milliband following the economics and policies of the deranged would be most amusing whilst we are destroyed.
May 12, 2026
Streeting is another EU maniac.
May 12, 2026
And he has islamists snapping at this heels in his constituency.
May 12, 2026
Maybe A Rayner would be controlled by the Unions who are beginning to wake up on Net Zero and may not want the country flooded with other countries’ unemployed youth.
May 12, 2026
Indeed many in the unions have realised that Ed’s energy agenda net zero are total insanity. The sophisticated scum, scum, scum lass might actually be the best of a bad lot. Streeting is the most sensible the dire contenders, but he would never be allowed to do anything very sensible by these Labour MPs. Even Streeting told people not to point out that the 11 convictions and life sentences for Lucy Letby are clearly totally unsound less it upsets her victims.
But why would “her” victims want Lucy kept in Jail when her convictions are all so obviously unsafe?
May 12, 2026
Change of leader will not make much difference. Schadenfreude in Starmer’s downfall for some, maybe.
Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose – in my opinion.
We won’t get nutty Miliband because he likes to operate behind the scenes. They are plenty of others though who would also do a poor job. Burnham was popular as a mayor, but so was Boris. Burnham is photogenic but he would be no better than Starmer.
I don’t believe in saviours, the country is far beyond that now. Reform would make a better fist of it than Labour – but look what happened with the crowd we voted in to deliver Brexit.
May 12, 2026
I think Never Here Kier should stay on until the inevitable financial crash then we can have a General Election. Finishing up with rsx dodging Crayons or Mad Ed Milibrain is beyond comprehension.
May 12, 2026
Think that might be the best solution. In my opinion there is no one to fill the void – has Parliament ever had so many incompetents together at any stage in recent history?
May 12, 2026
I saw Labour MP Jonathan Hinder on Newsnight yesterday. He was correct about Starmer being ‘tone deaf’ and foolish to believe doubling down on the EU will win back the lost Red Wall seats.
The other pro Starmer MP looked uncomfortable. I did not really listen to Ian Dale.
May 12, 2026
Who, doesn’t matter. Although what seemingly looks like a litany of miss-speaking, therefore lies from what was said before the election and then the fabricated outpourings since – Chagos, USA etc. Trying to be to clever with twisted legaleses and deflection just seems to be lying in most languages – he just cant stop.. On that basis he should go, vanish.
In terms is it going to be better, Labour has no alternative, more correctly Labour even with 2TK is not the right fit if the UK was to be a Democracy, with every one equal, playing their part and contributing – that is not the Labour way.
2TK has been to divisive, destructive, working to an agenda that has nothing to do with the people and this nation. Its easy to suggest he hates with a passion that everything the UK is or could become.
As it stands today without a general election I would sooner we saw a Corbyn, a died in the wool Unionised sponsored MP from labour takes his place, old school real Labour – we would then be sure of the direction. A direction most of us wont like but they tend to be as they say on the tin. Better than the dishonest hate and manipulation we are getting now
May 12, 2026
IB,
I quite liked Corbyn. What you see is what you get – an old school Dave Spart. To his credit, I don’t think he was in it for himself. His wife said he hardly ate -too busy printing pamphlets and organising.
May 12, 2026
@Peter – unfortunately, he also succumbs to same of the delusion we see in Parliament as a whole. When Corbin was looking to be the next leader of our once fine Country a friend of mine sent me a copy of Corbyn’s autobiography. Paraphrasing, in the opening chapters Corby starts off by suggesting he started out teaching under-privilege youngsters in the Caribbean. Which sounds very altruistic, but a top-notch fee-paying public school in Kingston Jamaica, is not somewhere you find impoverished underprivileged kids.
But I guess what we are all looking for nowadays is honesty, integrity and clear speaking from those that wish to lead. What we have is a ‘house’ full of egotistical free-loaders that as everyday passes sound like the are taking the ‘pi…..’
Would we miss any of them?
May 12, 2026
He doesn’t like the EU, so that’s a plus.
His manifesto pitch was to spend £500bn on renationalising public services, which got him a bad wrap. In the end the country voted for the Tories who spent £500bn with nothing to show for it.
Doesn’t have a clue on how to inspire the nation to create wealth though.
May 12, 2026
I would rather Starmer stays as he is a gift to the political right.
However, if he had to be replaced my preference would be Yvette Cooper.
May 12, 2026
@Paul Freedman – given the destruction and the tearing up of our structures he Starmer has achieved in not quite 2 years and what comes over as his duplicitous nature, giving him another 3 years how would the Country recover?
I am reminded the Country has yet to pay for the debts run up by Gordon Brown during his tenure, that might be down to our children. Then add in Starmer and crew those that will bear their burden haven’t been born yet.
May 12, 2026
The Burnham support only comes from the fact he is slightly more interesting than Starmer. He has no credibility he was a complete failure as Health Secretary overseeing the disastrous South Staffs NHS crime. He could not even beat Corbyn to the Labour leadership role.
There is absolutely no safe Labour seat he can automatically expect to win and gain access to the HoC a pre condition of leading the Parliamentary Labour Party.
If a leadership election is forced on Starmer then Ed Miliband will most likely become PM.
God help us all.
May 12, 2026
John, good morning.
We are in a “rather the devil you know” situation. Is the country less badly off if he remains, than should the Labour Lefties take full control. Remaining as they are might mean that party splits, which could be good for everyone as the blinkers will finally be removed? A substantial group could go the the Greens, revealing that groups true colours? No doubt some would flirt with Reform, same scenario? More probably the Libdems could find their numbers increasing? That could make them the official Opposition, rather than us – very concerning – nothing is certain when a ship starts to sink.
I want Starmer out, because that means any stability in this government will disintegrate further. The price to the country may be higher than we think, so the real question is……
“Is it all worth it?”
I feel it is
May 12, 2026
What I want is a GE and a right wing Reform/Conservative partnership
May 12, 2026
🤮I would never vote for either, so I don’t think that is a possibility.
May 12, 2026
You have a very modest opinion of yourself as a soothsayer. Come to think of it – and everything else.
Have you not noticed any polls of late?
Tell the organisations involved to check with you rather than have all those people talking to the electorate.
After all what does their opinion matter?
May 12, 2026
I think the main problem that at the present time there is nobody outstanding to take over as Prime Minister. Most of the cabinet do not know how to run the country and keep the population happy.
May 12, 2026
@Paul Townson – I hope you are not suggesting this PM is proven to be the right choice. To take it up a notch I can’t see anyone in this Parliament being a suitable candidate to run the Country on behalf of the people
May 12, 2026
After mocking the Conservatives about leadership change so much, it is ironic (but not suprising) that Labour have come to this pass so quickly. Personally, I’d rather Starmer stayed in place for as long as possible. He is effectivey neutered and hopefully cannot do (too) much more damage than he already has.
Much blame has been directed at Starmer (who is a hopeless communicator) but little condemnation of the policies (or lack of them) that have led to his downfall. Karl Turner was on TV yesterday and was really struggling to contain his fury. He made a wonderful point about Starmer ignoring the Brexit vote to gain “a few Lib Dems and people in Surrey” whilst totally ignoring the fact that it was much of the Red Wall that voted for it.
As to his replacement, well that should be damage limitation but probably won’t be. Streeting would be my preferred choice of the current runners ( Jeeves “Would you like a splitting headache or just a real pain in the backside Sir?”). Everyone seems to favour Burnham, forgetting he wasn’t exactly stellar in mainsteam politics, which is why he left it. I would enjoy seeing him give up his Mayoralty and then losing a “safe” seat – with the added pleasure of a perhpas new (Reform) Mayor replacing him. It’s a big gamble. If he wins, then we the ‘Angela & Ed’ show too. The Bond Market would go ballistic!
In the meanwhile, we drift along in our current mess, with our only consolaton being that those three years continue to tick by.
May 12, 2026
I agree. Although Starmer is bad, none of his potential successors offers a solution to the country’s woes. It is all party policies of the last few decades that have been the downfall of our country. Failing to deliver the Brexit we voted for, far too much immigration, the net zero lunacy, and high taxes. This has caused low growth and a fall in our personal GDP. I personally think the country has to get worse before our politicians see the error of their ways and give the majority the policies they have been crying out for. The Right needs to rally those who currently don’t vote and have become disillusioned with all our political parties. That is where the win will come from, as those still voting Greens, Lib Dem and Labour are a lost cause. An early General Election is a risk as we don’t want to end up with a hung parliament.
May 12, 2026
“Personally, I’d rather Starmer stayed in place for as long as possible. He is effectivey neutered and hopefully cannot do (too) much more damage than he already has.”
Mrs May was effectively neutered. Except that she wasn’t, because she forced Net Zero into law without a debate. Just think how much Starmer and Hermer can do in three years. There is no end to it, when they don’t care what we think.
May 12, 2026
I have about x 100 more interest in enjoying the wily London foxes on my evening strolls than I do with anything to do with Labour. They’re overall way too inexperienced and lack the leadership to lead our country. With no concrete vision of what they want. They’re redundant.
May 12, 2026
oh I think the numerous Fabians among the hierarchy of Labour and others certainly have a vision and the concrete is intended to suffer ‘concrete cancer’.
May 12, 2026
Do you want a change of Labour leader?
Not just leader but the whole of the shambolic Labour Party, just watch them all who were backing Starmer come crawling from under a rock saying I didn’t really believe in him but was scared of getting sidelined from cabinet, well hopefully Starmer will call a general election as well as his resignation then we can get this bunch of U.K. unbelievers out of parliament and a people’s party into power wink wink you know who and not greens or lib-dems or Tories the sooner the better for Great Britain
May 12, 2026
Clearly for all sanity we need a General Election ‘now’
We also for the sake of defending democracy need to remove the idea of 5 year terms. Reflect on the rot and destruction maliciously imposed on this nation, no parliament should go for longer than 2 years before seeking approval from the people whose country it is.
May 12, 2026
To add to that, a GE today will not get us to were we need to be, another reason for 2 year terms. A General Election will again, as last, (Labour didn’t win the last election rather the other crowd lost it) this time will be about removing those that don’t serve the UK and its people. 2 year terms limit destruction.
The only people against 2 year terms are the shower we have in Parliament that don’t like being challenge or have to justify themselves to those that empower and pay them – they are remote and aloof from the concept of democracy, the people, the country. Yet they challenge us daily
May 12, 2026
It’s a symbolic indication of the poor quality of the labour hierarchy that starmer is calling up retired, failed, senior Labour figures to take on strategic positions in his team. Brown, the gold seller, and Harmon. Probably worth the risk he must be thinking.
May 12, 2026
They are all as bad as each other. Changing the chief communist will make little difference.
May 12, 2026
Darren Jones, currently Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, seems a good candidate and is probably a safe pair of hands; certainly, in contrast to the other bad lot. He was quality knowledge, appears not to be tainted like so many others, and presents himself as a fine operator. He speaks well keeping to truth, without exaggerating or avoiding the substance of questions. Even so, he might not be interested in standing.
May 12, 2026
isn’t he the one who said the boat people were mostly women and children?
May 13, 2026
Yes. He was badly wrong on that as about 73% were adult men.
May 12, 2026
Remember when he told the QT audience that the people in the boats were all women and babies? That is just an example of the smooth utterances which have got him where he is.
May 13, 2026
I gather he erroneously claimed ‘most’ and had to admit it after. I vote Reform and am fully opposed to virtually all Labour do.
My comment on him was a rather oblique reply to the question: Do you want a change of Labour leader? If so who? I would not want him to become Labour leader, but answered from the perspective of who might be a better leader from Labour’s point of view,
May 12, 2026
There seems little chance of them electing, or keeping, a leader who does not attack and insult the very people Labour needs to win back from Reform. People want lower taxes, the boats stopped and potholes repaired. Unless they miraculously find someone who understands this, it makes little difference whether Starmer stays and, if he goes, who his replacement is.
May 12, 2026
@09:55 Speech “Keir Starmer tells his cabinet he will “get on with governing” and a Labour Party leadership contest has not been triggered”
You have me for the full 5 years, 5 glorious years of destruction. That’s what ‘I’ wanted that’s what ‘I’ am taking. get over it
May 12, 2026
That is after 83 Labour MPs have called for him to quit
May 12, 2026
We don’t want Labour (ever again).
Here is my line-up for future UK government:
Party leader (and PM): Katie Lam
Foreign secretary: Kemi Badenoch
Home Secretary: Penny Mordaunt
Defence Secretary: Ben Wallace
Chancellor of the Exchequer: ? maybe Priti Patel
Talent in spades.
Reply Neither Penny M nor Ben W are MPs, so not available. Katie is good but Kemi is more experienced and has the mandate to lead the Conservatives so you she should be PM.
May 12, 2026
Labour have nobody with experience capable of taking over as PM.
They need to look outside the cabinet for someone like ex-RM colonel Al Cairnes, whose military career will at least mean he is a competent administrator and a proven leader.
They won’t, of course.
Instead, they will go For a left wing candidate who will take us in a new, largely untried direction, for which they have no mandate. The right course of action is for Starmer to call a general election.
May 12, 2026
I think you have to be very careful what you wish for on this one. A very big question is whether the public is fed up just with Starmer, or with Labour in general? If the former, then any alternative is likely to increase Labour’s electoral chances, which I would certainly view as negative: none of the alternatives to him look any less socialist or Pro-EU minded, though some, Streeting in particular, may be better at concealing it.
May 12, 2026
I’d like either Ricky Gervais or Katie Hopkins for PM. At least we would have a great laugh, which would cheer us up. Their daily YouTube clips make my day.
May 12, 2026
I want Starmer to stay until the next election, with the hope that if he does the country would not be remiss enough to ever vote in a Labour government again, at least not in my lifetime. Looking at them all I cannot see anyone better too replace him only worse, each and every one of them will bankrupt the country. I dread the next three years.
May 12, 2026
Broadly speaking, it would be out of the frying pan into the fire as it isn’t going to be Graham Stringer.
May 12, 2026
I don’t want a new PM unless I take part in the vote.
May 12, 2026
Could the Labour Party put up a really big liar?
One who pretends he stands for what the back benchers believe in, whilst delivering the complete opposite which might actually be to the benefit of the country.
A bit like what they do when they stand for election, only this time tell the lies to their own party.
May 12, 2026
There is no PM talent in the cabinet – best if some unknown MP, not too far left, was picked from obscurity than to go with any of the alleged front runners.
That said, I still think Starmer will keep on clinging on until he frustrates those trying to get rid of him.
How close are we to that magical 81 MPs opposing him?
May 12, 2026
There are already over 100 opposing him but under their system they need 81 supporting a specific single candidate to start the process – they don’t have that amongst those 100 and it looks like Streeting has chickened out. They will get the numbers if Burnham returns but Starmer may block him or delay the by-election for months.
May 15, 2026
And Labour MPs, like the rest of us, are stymied when it comes to plumping for somebody capable of chairing a Cabinet.
May 12, 2026
With the odium in which Labour is presently held by its hitherto lifelong supporters, I doubt that Burnham could win the Manchester mayoral election if it were re-run today
May 12, 2026
Clowns to the left of him, jokers to the right.
I want him gone but not replaced by a labourite, especially one that the electorate would not have voted for because they are too left wing.
That makes Streeting the only viable option but he is an ineffectual idiot too.
May 12, 2026
you stopped short of the rest – ‘here I am, stuck in the middle with you.’
May 12, 2026
Graham Stringer.
May 12, 2026
As our host illustrates from time to time, Sir Keir is doing a poor job, yet, depending on your point of view, a change might result in someone even more damaging, e.g. a left winger. So let them carry on with the present internecine warfare; there is no hurry to replace the P.M.. Sir Keir is the only Labour M.P. with a mandate from the people, so his resignation ought to trigger a general election; otherwise, the public will have had no say in the choice of his successor.
One thing concerns me: the rate at which ministers are resigning. This dereliction of duty is surprising, coming from responsible people. In the sense that they down tools, they are imitating the unions. We need government to be continuous. That is a quailty which Sir Keir is advocating for himself. Can’t they be made to stay in their posts during these potentially unstable times? Do they continue to get paid? Will it affect their eligibility for another ministerial position?
May 12, 2026
With the King’s speach tomorrow may be things will go quiet for a couple of days.
May 12, 2026
The present House of Commons has 403 sitting Labour Party members(assuming all still under the whip)
To his MPs:Back me or sack me.On present news gossip he still has a large majority.
May 13, 2026
They won’t, but if the 80 voted against him along with opposition MPs he would lose any motion.
As he has done on 2 child benefit cap and welfare reform.
May 12, 2026
I don’t think it matters who is the Labour leader and hence PM. The country is ruled by the Civil Service and judiciary whose ideology and goals are summed up by Lord Gus O’Donnell who, when Cabinet Secretary, said in 2011: “When I was at the Treasury I argued for the most open door possible to immigration….. I think it’s my job to maximise global welfare not national.” If the indigenous UK population has an over –arching philosophy it is to live in a country of law and “fairness”. Of course the definition of “fairness” is different between the Left and the Right. The former wants to see equality of outcome and hence uses taxation to re-distribute wealth and the latter wants a free market where those who have talent and work hard are rewarded. However, since both the Left and the Right have pursued mass immigration they have both consequently upset the indigenous population as legal, and particularly illegal immigrants, are given priority and additional benefits etc. whilst at the same time the indigenous population is expected to accept changes in their lifestyles, freedom of speech etc. and higher taxation pay for and to accommodate the newcomers and their laws, practices and culture. This mass immigration is not considered to be “fair” by both the old Left and Right (for differing reasons) and has largely now destroyed the old Left and Right economic divisions. The Conservative Party was the first to suffer the consequences and the Labour Party will follow whoever is the PM.
May 15, 2026
I am staggered to find that civil Servants benefit from Parliamentary Privilege.
I thought it was only in force on the floor of the House and therefore protection for MPs exclusively!
May 12, 2026
Can’t wait for David Lammy to step up from deputy PM to Interim Acting PM
May 13, 2026
a new low in UK politics?
May 12, 2026
Not bothered, it will be like the Conservatives, they’ll replace one hopeless PM with someone equally hopeless. I recall Burnham when he was Minister for Health – not a notable success or even competent and his actual record in Manchester doesn’t live up to the hype.
May 12, 2026
Starmer has made Britain look weak and embarrassing on the world stage to our allies and enemies with many laughing behind his back. Being AWOL by default he is unable to read the room never mind the country. Without political antenna and now many advisers he has no idea how disastrous consequences will be for the country. Every day uncertainty adds to his nightmare indecision and ability to move on.
As one notable Labour MP noted recently that none of the current cabinet can solve this dilemma. They have been ignoring the damage caused by their policies for 2 years and insulting the electorate saying “We voted for Change” . No, folk may have voted for changing the government but never voted for changing the country or reversing Brexit and twisting their intentions is unforgivable and unforgettable.
They have fooled the country and now the country has deserted and punished them. A tug of war is now Labour’s Epitaph with a barnacle stuck in Downing street. Keep spinning this out is the Labour default.
May 12, 2026
Steeting hasn’t got the numbers to challenge apparently. So Starmer sirvives. The other options are all equally unpalatable EU enthusiasts or the hard left.
Burnham has to hope he survives long enough for a seat in a very safe Labour area to suddenly get fixed for him. He will have a tough time though as a lightning rod for the anyone but Labour coalition he will be facing that will rightly be arguing it to be a shameful abuse of democracy/shameless political manoeuvring
May 13, 2026
And the process is likely to take considerable time – 12 months? Can the Labour Party afford such a void?
May 14, 2026
I don’t think they have anyone who is PM material and can save the Party from wipe-out at the next election.