Some people are arguing that now is the time for the opposition to table a no-confidence motion. The Leader of The Opposition has made it clear she will facilitate one if Labour MPs now want to get rid of the PM. The Opposition is of course free to do this but will only do so if it seems likely there are enough Labour MPs to make it a worthwhile thing to do. Often the Opposition tabling a motion simply unites the governing party to fight off the threat to the future of the government. This defers the infighting which the crisis has generated. MPs in a governing party are usually reluctant to vote to destabilise their own patronage machine or to hasten an election.
Of course if enough Labour MPs see a No Confidence motion as a means to rid themselves of an unpopular leader then the Opposition can help the rebels by tabling and voting for such a motion. When a party has such a large majority as Labour there is no chance of passing a No confidence vote without large numbers of Labour MPs voting for it. If that did happen the King would ask whoever emerges as the new Labour leader to form the next government. It would not bring on an early General Election.
The Labour Party at the moment is very divided with a large number of Labour MPs extremely unhappy about their leader and about the events surrounding Lord Mandelson. So far the rebels have not all agreed to get behind a single candidate as an alternative to the Prime Minister. Instead the leading contenders or their supporters are busy attacking the Prime Minister in their briefings and doubtless seeing how many other MPs would be willing to get behind a leadership bid by them. It takes 81 Labour MP s to all declare in public they want the same named replacement as Leader to trigger a contest.
February 6, 2026
or … don’t interrupt an adversary until they stop making mistakes.
February 6, 2026
Correct. This is why I, despite everyone else wanting the PM gone, wish him to remain. The death of the LibLabCON.
February 6, 2026
@Mark B +1, we can but wish. A complete refresh
February 6, 2026
Consider the ‘off script’ Palantir activity.
No way can Starmer stay.
February 7, 2026
Lynn,
Very much appreciate your various comments. Please also thank Rowan for his considered remarks. They are most helpful in the current circumstances.
February 7, 2026
I try, I think those comments you refer to (in Westminster?) were made many years ago, unfortunately they remain pertinent.
My husband has made a much more consistent contribution over 40 years.
February 7, 2026
What makes you think that it is TTK driving this ?
February 6, 2026
Making serial mistakes is almost all that Labour do. Even the Tories did little positive for 14 years (Cameron half abolished HIP packs I suppose but even that only half – and sort of left the EU but in a rather dire, half hearted and botched way)
Labour would surely be wise to remove Starmer (before their destruction in May elections) rather than after this car crash?
February 6, 2026
Yes, rather misplaced optimism from Ms Badenoch; such a vote requires at least 2 difficult tasks from the Labour members:
1. Making a decision and sticking to it,
2. Accurate arithmetic.
No doubt setting up a committee and fact finding etc,….. is more likely
February 6, 2026
A vote of no confidence, can backfire if the PM wins it as it can be spun as a ‘vote of confidence’ and prove, no matter what, his party does not have what it takes to get rid of him. All it will do is embolden him, not chase him.
A vote of no confidence comes down to two things:
1) Timing.
2) Numbers.
This is what Mrs.T did back in 1979. She caught the Labour Party at it nadir and short of numbers willing to back the PM and the government. The mood of the country was for change. The government, was not working !
February 6, 2026
@Peter Wood – you could suggest it is just posturing to deflect from your own problems
February 6, 2026
I think most people realise that changing PM is not going to make things better and they have not just given up caring about parliament’s circus, but come to loathe it. Motions, PMQs, the Honourable this and that. Outside, we’re fed up with it all.
February 6, 2026
Sadly, I think your comment is well founded, and it brings on the disturbing social question that is democracy no longer capable of finding the kind of people competent to run a decent, honest government. The last 30 odd years gives evidence that perhaps it does not.
February 6, 2026
Good morning.
Not even these turkey’s are stupid enough to vote for Christmas (General Election) and the Leader of the Opposition knows that her party would fair little better in a GE. So there will be no motions of no confidence in this government or PM.
Let us be clear what this is ‘really’ all about. It is not about Peter Mandelson or what he is alleged to have done, this is about internal rival politics and a Blairite PM battling his anti-Blairite MP’s lead, in all probability, by Angela Rainer MP. Using the hapless Peter Mandelson as a stick in which to beat the PM with.
This is about power, not right or wrong.
Let us hope this passes moderation this time ?
Reply Lots of errors here. A successful No Confidence vote would deliver a new PM, not a GE. Leader of Opposition would welcome a GE to get rid of this government. Starmer not a Blairite, but well to the left of that. This is very much about Mandelson, and Starmer’s bad judgement hiring him,
February 6, 2026
To reply:- indeed we are almost certainly stuck with Labour for 3 plus more years thanks to Cameron, May, Boris and Sunak’s appalling and serial betrayals plus Sunak’s cut and run. The betting order now is Rayner (favourite) circa 30% chance, Streeting circa 20% who is the only half sensible candidate, Miliband circa 9% (god help us), Mamood, Burnham, Lucy Powell…
Still no police questioning of Peter Mandleson it seems – have the police run out of petrol perhaps or just too busy with non crime hate tweets? Yet it seems Richard Hermer, Baron Hermer speeded up the absurd political prosecution of Lucy Letby. Seems we might even still be stuck with the Chagos deal.
It seems 30% of birth defects that the NHS are treating at large expense are resulting from (mainly first) cousin marriages – surely at the very least we should strongly discourage and deter this. Yet the NHS and government is doing the complete reverse.
February 6, 2026
Starmer is indeed not a Blairite, he is well to the left of that wooden and totally lacks the abilities needed of a good leader. He has a broken compasss and is an appalling leader. Perhaps the worse leader is one with a broken compass and a good ability to lead – like Blair!
Blair was a total disaster anyway see Starkey’s “Blair did more harm than two world wars” video especally his constitutional reforms. the EU policies, his climate alarmism, the equality laws, ECHR policies, immigration levels, tax levels, the banking misregulation, selling the gold and his mad counterproductive wars!
February 6, 2026
I think Mark is basically right, looking to the future rather than to Mandelson’s grubby past. I would just add that no Labour leadership contender would want to make a move before the May elections. If they took over before then, they would be tarred with the brush of catastrophic electoral failure, which they would want to let Starmer take the rap for (quite rightly).
February 7, 2026
+1
February 6, 2026
Would the Tories want a GE at this stage? The best they can hope for is to be a partner in a coalition with Reform. Wouldn’t it be better to wait until 2029 and hope the electorate have forgotten they left power the last time with nothing working except the cross-channel taxi service?
Labour backbenchers are away with the fairies if they think any of Starmer’s likely rivals will do better than him.
February 6, 2026
The BBC has reported that:-
The US has backed the UK’s deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and lease back a key military base, Downing Street has told the BBC.
On Thursday, Donald Trump signalled his approval for the move, describing Sir Keir Starmer’s agreement as the “best he could make”.
The best Lammy and Starmer could make? Total insanity. Let us hope Trump kills this expensive lunacy.
February 8, 2026
Not sure it would deliver a new PM as there is nobody in Labour who can command the confidence of the house. At the point Starmer lost a vote of no confidence there would be no single Labour figure in place to command confidence, the King would therefore ask the leader of the opposition if they could form a government. They would not be able to. At which point Starmer would ask the King to dissolve parliament.
It would be a constitutional minefield as this process has not been tested. How long can the King hold Parliament open without a government while an alternative individual with confidence is sought?
Reply For as long as there is a majority in Parliament to do that. The King is there to do Parliaments bidding and he would be reluctant to call an election all the time the majority party said it could choose a new PM and carry on governing.
February 6, 2026
Starmer’s defence is he was deceived by Mandleson, ignoring the fact it is his judgment in appointing him that is the issue. Yet his own election to the position of PM was itself based on a deceit, the Labour Manifesto. Furthermore that Manifesto owed much to the work of Morgan McSweeny, a close political associate of Mandleson. Perhaps Mandleson himself had a hand in it himself. We need to know the extent of his involvement. Opposition MPs and political journalists need to ferret this out.
Opinion polls reveal that the public have given their verdict of no confidence either in Starmer or the Labour government. It no longer has a popular mandate. Any new Labour party leader needs to go to the country to secure a new mandate based on his or her Manifesto.
February 6, 2026
But she won’t…
February 6, 2026
“Mongst all foes that a friend should be the worst!”
The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Act 5, Scene 4). A reflection on the unique pain of being betrayed by someone close
February 6, 2026
A new Labour Leader should revert to the manifesto that the government were elected on. Then no new mandate need be sought.
February 6, 2026
Despite the anti-net zero crap from the anti-swans Reform limited company, Kent County Council has announced a £12m initiative for 10,000 electric vehicle charging points.
KCC has awarded a 20-year contract to charge point operator Urban Fox, to install EV sockets across the county
KCC said more than £12 million has been provided through the Department for Transport’s Local Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Capital Fund, making it the largest LEVI project in England
Cllr Peter Osborne (Reform), KCC cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “We’re pleased to support this programme because it offers practical help for residents and prepares Kent for the future”
February 7, 2026
Sounds great SG, progress is being made.
10,000 extra charging points which you laud as if it is a significant achievement.ì
There are 35 million cars on the road.
Under Government diktat we cannot buy ICE cars in just a few years.
Currently the numbers of charging points are wholly inadequate to cope.
Millions more are going to be needed both at home, at workplaces and especially out on the open road.
The current speed of implementation shows it very unlikely that we will create enough charging points in time.
PS
We are also not creating enough grid capacity to cope with this huge extra demand.
February 6, 2026
Johnson wasn’t brought down by a vote of No Confidence. He was brought down by a series of Ministers, in a planned campaign, resigning from his Government which in turn led to his resignation. The Parliamentary CON Party thought they’d stitched it up to (effectively) anoint Sunak as the new Leader. But then the pesky Party Membership spoke and Liz Truss became PM – until she, too, could be brought down by the Treasury/Bank of England and the LibCONs.
I’m sure Labour will have learnt from that example and won’t fatally stick the knife into Two-Tier until they have united around someone; not that it will save them any more than anointing Sunak saved the Not-a-Conservative-Party.
February 6, 2026
Isn’t it strange how Blair, who is usually SO keen to promote himself, is laying low and has completely gone to ground.
I’m sure it is purely coincidental and he’ll pop up shortly, doing his best Brer Rabbit impression, to assure us that, despite his decades-long, very close relationship with Mandelson, he’s “a pretty straight kinda guy” and he knew nuthin’.
February 7, 2026
Good spot, Donna. I think TB will pop back up once a new Labour Leader is installed post May elections.
February 6, 2026
Starmer may still be able to hang on, simply because there is no real sensible alternative coming forward within the Labour Party, who may be received any better by its members or the general population.
He certainly is badly wounded, but perhaps not fatally yet !.
What a dire choice of possible candidates there is.
February 6, 2026
All I will say is … be careful what we wish for! If Starmer is dethroned, we could end up with an even worse situation of Ed Milliband or David Lammy being PM – both are harder left than Starmer!
February 7, 2026
Actually that would be even better.
February 6, 2026
Starmer won’t be removed by any HoC no confidence vote or by any vote of 81 Labour MPs. He’ll be removed the same way Boris was, Cabinet members will decide it’s time he went and they will resign (or threaten to), his position will there be untenable and he’ll resign.
February 7, 2026
That is what happened to, Blair. People do rather forget.
February 6, 2026
Just get rid of labour they are all the same
February 6, 2026
Never Interfere With an Enemy While He’s in the Process of Destroying Himself
Sir Two Tier and his merry band of back-stabbing sycophants are possibly the least worst combination of Labour acolytes that we could have in power. Others will destroy the country more. Sir Tow Tier’s delivery in government will ensure that Labour find themselves with fewer MPs than the current Conservatives as he continues his administration. Next week another u-turn or PR disaster. So leave him there as a lame duck
February 6, 2026
One of Sir Two Tier’s potential replacements and the most likely one can not move against the isolated PM because she is engaged in a tax avoidance investigation.
Let that sink in from the party of the working man.
February 6, 2026
Let them fight amongst themselves. Kemi needs much more time before a general election.
February 6, 2026
It surely is time the Monarch was given back some powers to intervene when government gets itself into the mess we see today.
If nothing less the Monarch could act as arbitrator between the factions, rather than the shambles that will likely take place as candidates scramble to get support.
We the public should be able to petition the Monarch to force an election when we have had enough of the goings on at Westminster.
February 6, 2026
This Monarch has less capability than the politicians.
I am against giving the monarch any power.
Indeed we need to repeal the Royal Prerogative which is deployed by the PM, mostly to our detriment.
Parliament especially the Commons must empowered so that it attracts quality people.
February 6, 2026
I do not see any point what so ever in Kemi B even thinking about raising a vote of no confidence re Starmer.
His record thus far has provided all the evidence needed to establish he is incompetent. The Chagos Islands hand over and rent back deal (sic) being yet more damning evidence on top of his unbelievable incompetence when selecting top tier job placements such as UK Ambassador to the USA.
His choice of Chancellor and the most bizarre pick for Foreign secretary demonstrated just how lacking in basic humanity skills he is.
Labour have got to do the deed and remove their embarrassment from his leadership position. The big question is who will replace him and will they do any better on the international stage than our current absentee PM has been?
February 6, 2026
Look at the replacements does not give you any confidence
February 6, 2026
It is widely agreed that Starmer is incompetent; I would go further and say he hates this country. However, Labour will in all probability, elect a replacement who is more left wing than Starmer and (s)he might prove to be both energetic and competent. Rather than drifting into ruin, the country might rush into it. Better to leave things as they are.
February 6, 2026
We are currently rushing to ruin…
February 6, 2026
A concise explanation of the situation Sir JR.
However, I struggle to see how Starmer can continue as PM.
The surprise policies not in the manifesto. Most of which ended in screeching U-turns. The lunatic Chagos deal, that continues to stumble. The betrayal of thousands of young girls, by Starmer’s refusal for a national enquiry, which still doesn’t seem to have appeared. His friendship with a ( a man with questionable contacts ed) who Blair originally gave power and Starmer continually promoted.
How much worse does it have to get ……….
February 6, 2026
Thanks for the correction, but I think my words were more accurate.
February 6, 2026
If the Conservatives had any sense they would work with Rupert Lowe and publicise what is being exposed in his rape gang inquiry. Who in the country does not want gang rape realities exposing, and the crimes stopped? Who is frightened to show the way police and social services behaved? Why are more of the criminals not locked up? why are the people who knew it was going on but did not report it allowed a free pass?
It is easy to demolish the current governments delivery on these matters.
February 6, 2026
+1
Interesting that Farage’s little gang ignore this important issue because that all hate Lowe.
Like children in a playground.
But then Farage did admire Mandelson, thought he would make a great US Ambassador.
February 6, 2026
This is confusing. A parliamentary motion of no confidence is directed at the government not just the PM. The government is formed by the majority party. The sovereign plays no part in a party’s chice of leadership. Ergo the sovereign would dissolve parliament to make way for a general election. Why would the sovereign permit the governing party to stay in office subject to it replacing its leader. This is not a one man dictatorship.
I can see Labour has a problem their is no way it woukd allow Starmer to lead it into a general election. It must decide now whether to change leader now before such a motion or risk having to do so during the time allotted for a general election campaign.
Please explain.
Reply The King cannot dissolve Parliament if a big majority of its members wish to change PM without an election.
February 6, 2026
Harvey Proctor on Mike Graham’s YouTube show this morning was powerful stuff.
Again a deep well of powerful stuff that the opposition parties should be using to destroy the Labour party.
Harvey deserves a medal.
February 6, 2026
And you need to be very careful what you vote for: as far as I can see all the touted Labour alternatives to the current PM look even worse, in that they would be likely to be more effective in imposing their left wing agenda.
February 6, 2026
Same old, same old.
Haven’t we all been here before?
February 6, 2026
As someone who wrote such a thought here yesterday this approach does make a lot of sense.
February 6, 2026
New Statesman, 04/02/2026 Ailbhe Rea, ‘The Mandelson affair: inside the scandal of the century’.
What’s an ‘opinion’ not based on historical facts?
February 6, 2026
Be careful what you wish for
February 6, 2026
Be careful what you wish for, Milibrain and Rayner would be far worse than the incumbent.
February 6, 2026
I imagine if it should prove to be the case that Mandelson was appointed before the background checks were made available to the PM then the PM has nobody else to blame but himself.
February 7, 2026
The ‘spooks’ full report was available to the PM.
He ignored the facts they presented to him.
He confirmed that in the House when Kemi asked.
February 6, 2026
Like the readers of the Sun, I don’t care who forms the government or who is its leader. It’s the policies that matter to me and I don’t see the likelihood of any major changes as a majority of Parliamentarians of all major parties, who, together with the Civil Service, are supportive of EU membership and the ECHR, Net Zero, mass illegal and legal immigration, high wasteful spending to justify high taxation and the give-away of our territory with a very large dowry. There may be the odd statement from a section of Parliament to “look again” at Net Zero or membership of the ECHR but knowing the history and the number of Parliamentary activists in support of these policies nothing will change. We did manage to, sort of, exit from the EU but this was not through a change of government but through a referendum, which the current Parliament wishes to reverse. So will it only be possible in the future to make major policy changes through popular demands for referendums?
February 6, 2026
It is unlikely that any replacement for Starmer would be any better. I hope he digs in and stays as long as possible, to show voters what a disunited party Labour are. Sadly the last Conservative Government was just a big a mess, and changed leaders from Johnson to Truss and Sunak without a GE.
It is interesting that our MSM also seemed to do little due diligence on Lord Mandelson, although plenty of people said it was an appalling appointment.
To tolerate a senior colleague like Mandelson for so long, 30 years plus, shows how little Labour cares about honesty and integrity in their MPs. But, as always the chickens come home to roost.
February 6, 2026
I read that the PM is desperately searching for someone to be held responsible for vetting Mr. Mandelson…MI5, MI6, ethics advisers….permanent secretaries….Those engineers working in DESNZ and NESO should take this as a warning that they will be held responsible by the SoS for ES&NZ when our expensive and unreliable energy system starts to crack with the rolling blackouts which are not just inevitable but actually planned for in the NESO Clean Power 2030 project (Table 2 P47). He will say, as he flies off to the USA to join his brother “How could I know this would happen? I’m only an Oxford PPE graduate and relying on NESO and DESNZ engineers for advice?”
February 6, 2026
It seems clear that the chances of a leftwing PM taking over from Starmer are quite high. Leftwing Labour MPs would then resist the idea that a General Election should be called, because they know for certain that Labour would lose.
‘We should be careful what we wish for’ I would say, and I fancy I can read that between the lines of JR’s OP today.
February 7, 2026
TTK was a member of the Fabian Society. You cannot get more Left Wing than that. Unless you go full, Pol-Pot or Mao.
February 7, 2026
Mark, members of the Fabian Society (and Society of Labour Lawyers) are omnipresent in public life and politics. That in itself should prompt an inquiry into the professional ladder, and how entrée to the bar and the senior legal ranks is pursued and enabled. Except that there are very few who could hold such an inquiry impartially.
February 6, 2026
the entire edifice a symbol of democracy is falling apart not just failing any scintilla
of an idea of a DEMOCRATIC institution but building-wise.Sorry John your mob
are no better.How many hundreds in The Commons and how may hundreds in
The Lords.Berobed are those who rule,starting from the top(HM)downwards.
Bring back the levellers and I’m up for it.Pitchfork to hand
February 6, 2026
Blank British visas and suitcases of cash were found in the ( former ed)Prime Minister’s home in Mauritius
Oh deary me, what is going on here?
February 6, 2026
I agree that calling for a no confidence vote without a firm idea of sufficient numbers in support is pointless. The numbers may however be growing as Labour MPs look around for other employment after Labour, as seems likely, lose the next election. Especially will they need to start looking for alternative employment if their confidence in the party’s leaders is falling away.
February 8, 2026
Bad as he is, Starmer is probably the best Prime Minister available at the present time. If he leaves, we get somebody even worse, probably Rayner or Miliband. If Starmer limps on, he will be PM in name only, without authority and a national laughing stock. I like the idea of that.
I think it follows that for the time being the opposition parties should be trying to prop him up, and a Conservative motion of no confidence which would rally Labour MPs behind Starmer would be just the thing.