How would a Labour leadership challenge work and how safe is Starmer?
The extraordinary briefing war that erupted at the top of government on Tuesday night has reignited questions about Keir Starmer’s leadership,Speaking to the Guardian and others, Starmer’s most senior political aides warned that he would fight any “reckless” attempt to challenge him after the budget or May elections, while voicing fears that Wes Streeting, the health secretary, was among those manoeuvring to replace him,Instead of putting to bed any questions about his future, the briefing has sparked fresh questions about Starmer’s future and thrown the spotlight on Streeting as a potential successor,Here we look at the rules for removing a Labour leader and the possible consequences,A Labour leadership contest can be triggered if 20% of the party’s MPs throw their weight behind a replacement candidate.
Given there are 405 Labour MPs, 81 would need to support a challenger,The threshold was increased from 10% in 2021,Starmer would automatically be on the ballot paper in any contest, and his closest allies have made it clear that he would fight any attempt to dislodge him,Labour members and affiliates, including the trade unions, would be able to vote in the ballot,The timing of any contest would be decided by Labour’s national executive committee (NEC).
No Labour prime minister has been ousted by his party, nor has any faced a formal leadership challenge from MPs.Tony Blair and Gordon Brown survived waves of ministerial resignations designed to force them out of Downing Street.Blair was destabilised in 2006 by the departures of several of Brown’s allies from the frontbench, but did not leave office until a year later.Brown endured a series of resignations but clung on until 2010.Jeremy Corbyn is the only Labour leader to have faced a formal challenge under the modern party rules.
A mass shadow cabinet resignation took place after the Leave campaign unexpectedly won the Brexit referendum in 2016, and Corbyn then lost a confidence vote among his MPs by a huge margin.He was challenged for the leadership by Owen Smith, the then Labour MP for Pontypridd, but comfortably won a vote among members and unions and ultimately emerged in a stronger position than before.Most Labour MPs believe that Starmer would see off a challenge, although they say the decision to force the question out into the open this week has actually weakened his position.Starmer told the Commons on Wednesday that he had “never authorised attacks on cabinet members” after Streeting told broadcasters that “whoever did this doesn’t speak for the prime minister”.But this suggests that Starmer is unaware of and uninvolved in what goes on inside Downing Street.
Nonetheless, the obstacles for any challenger to Starmer are formidable – winning over 81 MPs would be a major feat and anyone who did so would have their popularity damaged by moving against a majority-winning Labour prime minister.The party’s membership would not appreciate the disloyalty and would be likely to be sympathetic towards Starmer in this scenario.There are suggestions that a low-profile “stalking horse” candidate could be found to trigger the formal challenge and then clear the way for one or more serious candidates on the ballot.This would require some difficult political manoeuvring and many people would see though an attempt to disguise the instigator of an attempted coup.Starmer’s allies have singled out Streeting as someone they fear is moving against him, with claims there are 50 frontbenchers willing to resign and throw their weight behind him.
Streeting categorically denied any plot on Wednesday morning and said those behind the attacks on him should be sacked,Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, is also seen as a prospective leadership candidate and is favoured by Labour MPs on the right of the party,Angela Rayner, who remains popular with the grassroots despite being forced to resign over her tax affairs, could re-emerge as a candidate or play a kingmaker role,Ed Miliband, a former Labour leader, is tipped by some for a return,Outside the parliamentary party, Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, harbours longstanding ambitions to be leader but would need to find a Commons seat first.
The 5% first home buyers scheme is a miserable policy failure – and the latest chapter in Australia’s housing disgrace | Greg Jericho
The story of Australia’s housing policy over the past 25 years is one of governments doing all they can to juice demand for housing while steadily reducing the supply of public housing.This trend continues as the latest housing finance figures suggest house prices are set to rise off the back of investors rushing into the market to beat the introduction of the 5% deposit scheme for first home buyers.Whether it be the 50% capital gains tax discount and negative gearing that gives investors a leg up, or first home buyer grants that try to balance that bias, the big emphasis is always on the demand side of the equation.And so the story continues with the 5% deposit guarantee for first home buyers that began on 1 October.It’s a policy that notionally makes it easier for first home buyers to get a home loan
SSE is a winner in the great grid upgrade. Who is looking out for consumers and small businesses? | Nils Pratley
It is a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to upgrade the UK electricity network”, gushed Martin Pibworth, the chief executive of SSE, and you can understand his excitement. The great grid upgrade has put a rocket under his share price. SSE’s shares soared 17% on Wednesday as the group laid out plans to spend the phenomenal sum of £33bn – more than the company’s current stock market value – over the next five years.That’s terrific news for SSE shareholders, but the stock market’s enthusiasm will do nothing to quiet two big worries about the sprint to upgrade the electricity grid. Has the regulator Ofgem – under orders from the government to get the upgrade done by 2030 – had to throw gold in the path of SSE, Scottish Power and National Grid Group, the trio behind the overall £80bn network investment programme? And what does it all mean for electricity consumers – households and businesses – who will fund this upgrade through their bills?From the point of view of SSE’s shareholders, the worry was that the mighty step up in spending, including £27bn alone on electricity networks, would have to be backed by a hefty issue of new shares
Anthropic announces $50bn plan for datacenter construction in US
Artificial intelligence company Anthropic announced a $50bn investment in computing infrastructure on Wednesday that will include new datacenters in Texas and New York.“We’re getting closer to AI that can accelerate scientific discovery and help solve complex problems in ways that weren’t possible before,” Anthropic’s CEO, Dario Amodei, said in a press release.Building the massive information warehouses takes an average of two years in the US and requires copious amounts of energy to fuel the facilities. The company, maker of the AI chatbot Claude, popular with businesses adopting AI, said in a statement that the “scale of this investment is necessary to meet the growing demand for Claude from hundreds of thousands of businesses while keeping our research at the frontier”. Anthropic said its projects will create about 800 permanent jobs and 2,400 construction jobs
Waymo announces that its robotaxis will drive freeways for the first time
Alphabet’s Waymo said on Wednesday that it will begin offering robotaxi rides that use freeways across San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix, a first for the Google subsidiary as it steps up expansion amid global and domestic competition in the self-driving industry.Freeway rides will initially be available to early-access users, Waymo said. “When a freeway route is meaningfully faster, they can be matched with a freeway trip, providing quicker, smoother, and more efficient rides,” it said.Waymo, which already operates in parts of the San Francisco Bay Area, is also extending operations to San Jose, including Mineta San Jose international airport, the second airport in its service area after Phoenix Sky Harbor.The move comes as Tesla expands its robotaxi service with safety monitors and drivers, and Zoox – backed by Amazon – offers free robotaxi rides on and around the Las Vegas Strip
Reversed burger curse and ‘deep motivations’ may help Oscar Piastri turn Formula One season around
As Oscar Piastri desperately works to rebound from his recent Formula One woes, an Australian restaurant chain is doing its part to keep his title hopes alive.After offering free burgers for every time the Australian made the podium, Grill’d burger chain has apologised for putting a “curse” on the McLaren driver.Piastri has not finished in the top three since the promotion was relaunched five races ago, with his teammate Lando Norris taking the championship lead off him.Grill’d’s Piastri 81 Burger was first put on the menu before the Australian Grand Prix in March, with Piastri’s endorsement, after he was on the podium in Italy and was leading the championship.But since then the 24-year-old driver has crashed, collided and picked up penalty points
Sinner into last four of ATP Finals after straight-sets win over Zverev – as it happened
Jannik Sinner is through to the semi-finals of the ATP Finals with a match to spare after beating Alexander Zverev.The Wimbledon champion, on home soil in Turin, triumphed 6-4, 6-3 for a fifth straight win over the German world No 3 Zverev.Sinner ended the match with 28 winners to 14 unforced errors, having dropped just eight points on his first serve.“I felt like I was serving very well in the important moments. I tried to play the best tennis possible when it mattered,” he said
Atlanta Fed chair steps down as Trump attacks central bank’s independence
UK gets record demand at government debt auction; FTSE 100 index sets new closing high – as it happened
A tax roadmap for electric cars | Letters
Tech companies and UK child safety agencies to test AI tools’ ability to create abuse images
Anthony Joshua set to face Jake Paul in December heavyweight bout
Lions’ Amon-Ra St Brown apologizes for offense caused over ‘Trump Dance’ during game