Stop plotting to oust Keir Starmer, ex-deputy Labour leader urges MPs
Labour MPs have been urged to stop plotting to remove Keir Starmer by Tom Watson, who as a junior minister spearheaded the last attempted coup against a Labour prime minister, when Tony Blair faced a revolt in 2006.Watson’s warning came as Steve Reed, the housing and communities secretary, and a key Starmer loyalist, said Labour would risk “annihilation” if it decided to try to change leaders.But with results for Labour expected to be particularly grim in Thursday’s elections for the Scottish and Welsh parliaments and English councils, senior party figures have told the Guardian that activists were being repeatedly told that the prime minister was the problem, rather than the party.“They don’t hate Labour, they hate Keir, as unfair as that is, and I do think it is massively unfair,” one said.There are nonetheless few expectations of a challenge soon after the elections, with expected challengers including Andy Burnham, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting locked in what one cabinet minister called a “Mexican standoff”, with no one ready to move first.
Watson’s warning came in a Substack post in which he recounted his role in events in 2006, when Blair faced a letter from some MPs calling on him to set a date for his departure as prime minister, coupled with some junior ministerial resignations, Watson’s among them,His advice to the current crop of Labour MPs, said Watson, who served as deputy leader under Jeremy Corbyn and is now a peer, was “not to be as reckless as we were in 2006”,He went on: “Whatever the rights and wrongs of Labour’s current woes, the answer is not two-dozen backbench MPs writing a public letter calling on the prime minister to resign,” It would, he said, create a “Westminster psychodrama”, be seized on by opponents and go down extremely badly with voters,“Voters will see a party talking to itself while the country is shouting at it,” he wrote.
“The solution cannot simply be a different name on the door.The party has to listen harder, think deeper and recover its political purpose.”Speaking earlier on Tuesday, Reed said he believed most fellow Labour MPs were not signed up to the idea of a challenge.He told Times Radio: “The whole notion that we would copy the Conservatives and go doomscrolling through leaders in a way that means the government is completely incapable of dealing with the things that matter to most of the British public is absolute nonsense, and I’m not going to engage in it, and most of our MPs would not engage in that either.”Steve Wright, the general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, reiterated his call for Starmer to go in an interview published on Tuesday, saying that if results on Thursday were as bad as anticipated, the prime minister would be “a bit of a sitting duck”.
But one cabinet minister said an immediate challenge felt unlikely: “A number of candidates are in a Mexican standoff but nobody is ready to pull the trigger,“It’s a reality that the next few months will be difficult,The idea that in that context the Labour party wants to turn in on itself and go round the country and have hustings, is frankly bizarre,My sense is that no one will trigger a contest,There will be a lot of noise and briefing and people will understandably be worried, but I think that Keir will still be here next week.
”Supporters of Burnham are thought to be waiting to see local election results across the north-west before potentially making an intervention on Friday evening.Backers of the Greater Manchester mayor say they will ask Starmer to set out a timetable for a dignified exit.This timetable would give Burnham time to seek a seat in Westminster – and could mean he would no longer be obstructed by Labour’s national executive committee.If Starmer refused and Burnham sought to return to parliament nonetheless, he would almost certainly be blocked again.Whatever happens, Burnham, Rayner and Lucy Powell, who replaced Rayner as Labour’s deputy leader, are expected to feel more free to express opinions once the election is over.
Some in Labour believe that such is the political hole Starmer faces, someone will act,One senior party source said: “Plenty of MPs now think they might as well just roll the dice and that anything would be better than where we are now,”
Badenoch defends seeking a ban on pro-Palestine marches but not Tommy Robinson ones – as it happened
Kemi Badenoch also used her Today interview to defend her argument that pro-Palestine marches should be banned because they platform antisemitism, but that marches organised by the far-right activist Tommy Robinson should be allowed.When it was put to Badenoch that the Robinson marches were a platform for anti-Muslim hate, Badenoch said that the marches were “different”, and that two Jewish men were killed at Heaton Park synagogue last year and that another two Jewish men were almost killed in Golders Green last week.When it was put to her that Muslims might feel threatened by some of the things said at a Robinson event, she insisted that the two sorts of marches were “not the same”.She went on:double quotation markCriticism of religion is allowed in this country. We mustn’t mix the two things
Farage deploys the rottweiler to distract from awkward £5m gift story | John Crace
It’s a classic from the Donald Trump playbook: everything’s been going a bit tits up, so you create a distraction. Get everyone looking in the wrong direction. Last week was the worst in months for Reform. First the party was pegged back in the opinion polls, then the Guardian revealed Nigel Farage had been given a £5m handout by Christopher Harborne, a Thai-based crypto dealer. A donation that Nige had never thought to declare
There’s no excuse for boozing at work | Brief letters
I am sorry, Gaby Hinsliff, but I cannot defend MPs’ booze culture (My advice to Hannah Spencer? Before calling out MPs’ boozing, try to understand the reasons behind it, 1 May). As a retired nurse, there were times when my colleagues and I were working long hours under a great deal of stress, often making life and death decisions. There is no excuse for drinking at work. Hannah Spencer was right to call it out.Patricia HowlettSouth Benfleet, Essex Friends at Abberton reservoir recently encountered a group of women in a bird hide who gave a whole new meaning to the term “hen party”
Greens must take immediate action against antisemitism in party, says Lucas
The former Green leader Caroline Lucas has called for the party to take immediate action against candidates who have made antisemitic comments or posts, following a series of cases before Thursday’s elections.Lucas, who led or co-led the party for six years and served as its first MP, said that while the number of such cases was limited, they could not be ignored.“Statements that have now come to light from a handful of @TheGreenParty candidates are totally unacceptable & require immediate action,” she wrote on X. “There’s no place for antisemitism or any hate speech in the party. This is a society-wide problem and needs to be rooted out wherever it’s found
Cabinet minister warns Labour against ‘doomscrolling’ through leaders like the Tories
Labour should not be “doomscrolling” through leaders like the Conservatives, the communities secretary, Steve Reed, has said, urging MPs not to move against Keir Starmer after the May elections.MPs who fear Starmer cannot lead the party into the next general election because of his unpopularity are understood to have been discussing whether to lay out a timetable for his departure to present to the prime minister.Starmer could also potentially face a direct leadership challenge, though would-be candidates, including Wes Streeting and Angela Rayner, are said to be unlikely to move first against him.MPs told the Guardian they were sceptical about the idea of a letter urging the prime minister to set out a timetable for departure – though some hope a longer timeframe would benefit the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, giving him time to return to Westminster.Reed said the majority of MPs and local leaders did not want to unleash the chaos of a leadership challenge
Vote Lib Dem or ‘regret it’ living under a Reform council, Davey tells voters
Voters in the home counties will “regret it for a long time” if they do not back the Liberal Democrats and wake up to a Reform-led council, Ed Davey has said.The Lib Dems leader has identified five councils – East Surrey, West Surrey, Hampshire, West Sussex and Huntingdonshire – where his party could win overall control, as well as swathes of the former “blue wall” where Davey said it was a “straight fight” between his party and Reform at the English local elections.More than 5,000 councillors will be elected on Thursday, with more than half of these being in either London or the south-east. Some projections show the Lib Dems gaining 500 seats, with Labour losing as many as 1,800. The Greens are also expected to gain hundreds of seats, with top projections putting the figure at 1,700
How to make the perfect Spanish broad bean stew – recipe | Felicity Cloake's How to make the perfect …
Willy’s, Margate, Kent: ‘It chortles in the face of small plates’ – restaurant review | Grace Dent on restaurants
Helen Goh’s springtime spinach sponge cake with cream cheese icing – recipe | The sweet spot
Why we care so much about preserving family recipes
When it comes to wines, it pays to look beyond the fashionable
Rachel Roddy’s recipe for spaghetti with crab, chilli, herbs and lemon | A kitchen in Rome