British prime minister Keir Starmer faces pressure to set out plans to quit Downing Street over the weekend after Andy Burnham stormed to victory in the Makerfield byelection.
Starmer has repeatedly vowed to fight any leadership challenge, insisting he will not “walk away”.
But Burnham’s byelection victory has prompted more backbenchers and Labour grandees to call for Starmer to stand down.
Some MPs who had signed a statement rejecting calls for a leadership election last month have now reversed their position, while former home secretary Alan Johnson told LBC his message to the prime minister would be: “It’s over, Keir.”
Labour peer Charlie Falconer said Starmer has “absolutely no authority” because “everybody assumes” Burnham will challenge for the leadership and is likely to win.
Falconer, who served in the cabinet under Tony Blair, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Starmer could have “at most weeks to go”, leaving him unable to effectively control his cabinet, command the Commons or deal with allies or opponents.
Starmer is understood to have spoken to a number of cabinet ministers on Friday, some of whom are reported to have told him he should set out a timetable for his departure.
Some in Westminster believe a contest could begin as early as next week but allies of Burnham favour a longer wait to allow them to prepare for government.
Former transport secretary Louise Haigh, one of his supporters, said after his byelection victory: “We really hope that this can be a managed and orderly transition and Keir Starmer will reflect on the results, and Andy and Keir can meet in the coming days, and over the next week, and agree a path forward.”
It is understood that Burnham’s camp wants Starmer to set out his plans in the coming days but would accept a timetable that kept him in No 10 until September.
But former deputy leader Harriet Harman has urged the party to move faster, telling Sky News’s Electoral Dysfunction podcast ministers could not be left “in a state of paralysis all through the summer”.
Jess Phillips, who quit as a minister last month, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme she was looking forward to Burnham arriving in Westminster on Monday and seeing prospective leadership candidates setting out their stall to Labour MPs.
The MP said Burnham had “proved his hypothesis” that he could take on Reform UK by winning in Makerfield.
“He beat off Reform absolutely soundly in an area that absolutely should have been delivered to Reform and if anyone else had stood there, we would not be having this conversation now … I think he has earned the right to come and make his case to the parliamentary Labour Party.”
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he felt the debate on the potential leadership battle between Starmer and Burnham focused more on personality than politics.
“All of the media are very focused on a debate between the personalities, and no stage does any policy debate actually come into it, which I find very strange,” he told Sky News.
Corbyn, who beat Burnham in 2015 for the Labour leadership, said he gets on well with the newly elected Makerfield MP but disagrees with his economic policies, which seemed to him “to be accepting too much of the austerity that we’ve had imposed upon us and doesn’t appear to be doing anything, as I can see it, differently internationally”.
Meanwhile, former home secretary Johnson told LBC Starmer now has to step aside.
He said: “I’d say it’s over, Keir. And listen, he’s a bright guy. He knows it’s over. He will forever be in the history books as the man who turned us around, Labour, from the second-worst result in our history to the second-best result in our history in one five-year period.”
But Starmer appeared to be digging in, warning Labour staffers during a call on Friday lunchtime to avoid “plunging our party and our country into chaos by turning on each other and tearing apart our party and our movement”.
It is understood he has also amassed a campaign war chest to fight any leadership challenge with the backing of a group of private donors.
Fundraising has increased in the last two days with total pledges running into six figures, sources said.
Starmer and his backers in the parliamentary Labour Party have also stressed the need to focus on the byelection for the Greater Manchester mayoralty triggered by Burnham’s election.
That byelection is scheduled to take place on July 30th, with Labour set to announce its candidate on June 26th.
The party is already pitching the contest as a two-horse race between Labour and Reform UK but the Greens will look to build on their success in the Gorton and Denton byelection with a strong challenge of their own.
Green leader Zack Polanski has sought to portray his party as the main challenger to Nigel Farage, saying the mayoral contest will be “a straight up battle between the Green Party vs Reform”. – PA, Guardian
