Keir Starmer’s premiership is on life support. These are the words of a Labour MP who spoke to HuffPost UK after the party’s humiliating defeat in the Gorton and Denton by-election. Just 18 months ago, Labour had won this seat by a comfortable margin of 13,500 votes. But this time, they came in third, behind the Green Party and Reform UK.
The result was a major blow to Starmer’s leadership, with polling expert Sir John Curtice describing it as “the worst possible result for the prime minister”. And it seems that even Labour MPs who were previously hesitant to criticize Starmer are now calling for his removal.
One MP said, “He’s burying the Labour Party.” Another senior figure stated, “Keir needs to be removed. The party has to act.” Even left-winger Clive Lewis, who had previously supported Starmer, now sees him as “an interim prime minister” and believes he will not be in office for much longer.
The sentiment among Labour MPs is clear – Starmer’s leadership is not working and it’s time for a change. Neil Duncan-Jordan, a Labour activist, told Times Radio that if Starmer is seen as a barrier to winning elections, then he needs to be removed. He added, “We need to be serious about winning again. And, if there’s a block to winning again, then we need to look at how we remove that block.”
Even Angela Rayner, who has been relatively quiet since resigning as deputy prime minister last year, has publicly called for Starmer to change course. In a post on X, she said, “This result must be a wake-up call. It’s time to really listen – and to reflect. Voters want the change that we promised – and they voted for. If we want to unrig the system, if we want to make the change we were sent into government to make, we have to be braver.”
But despite the growing calls for change within his own party, Starmer seems deaf to their concerns. In a letter to his MPs, he insisted that he will not change course and even went as far as to suggest that voters had been duped into supporting the Greens. He said, “The Greens were able to capitalise on an endorsement from George Galloway to win over enough voters to push them over the line. Their willingness to welcome Galloway’s divisive, sectarian politics is a sign that the Greens are not the harmless environmentalists they pretend to be.”
This response from Starmer has only further alienated his colleagues, with one Labour MP stating, “He looks ridiculous and totally disconnected.” A Green Party source also criticized Starmer’s response, saying, “His only answer now is to smear the voters as extremists who wanted the hope and change that he is failing to offer. It is not the election result or voters who are disappointing, it is his Labour government that is beyond disappointing.”
One of the key issues that has been raised by Labour MPs is Starmer’s decision to block popular Manchester mayor Andy Burnham from standing as the party’s candidate. However, one party insider defended this decision, stating, “Does anyone really believe Andy wouldn’t have invented his own foreign policy for the campaign, particularly after a week of knocking doors? That would have been the start of a leadership campaign before even being elected, which vindicates Keir’s decision even more.”
But according to another MP who was regularly on the doors in the constituency, the Burnham issue was not even mentioned by local voters. They added, “We shouldn’t read too much into the result. Lots of voters who would back us in a general election wanted to send a message to the party by voting Green.”
This sentiment was echoed by Chris Hopkins, political research director at pollsters Savanta, who cautioned against overreacting to the by-election result. He said, “We need to be careful not to jump to too many conclusions, and I’d encourage Labour MPs not to overreact to this. Yes, it’s bad, but nothing that played out last night should come as a huge surprise, given the national polling and unpopularity of the government.”
Hopkins also pointed out that Starmer’s position as leader is secure for now, mainly due to the lack of a clear challenger. However, he warned that if the May elections in Scotland, Wales, and England are as bad as Labour MPs fear
