Starmer to resign tomorrow?

Keir Starmer is preparing to set out a timetable for his departure from No 10 this week after Andy Burnham’s triumphant return to Westminster in the Makerfield byelection.

The prime minister is understood to have reached the conclusion that his position is no longer tenable after conversations in recent days with cabinet ministers, Downing Street advisers, trade union leaders, and party donors.

Although Starmer is spending the weekend talking his future over with his wife, Victoria, at Chequers before making a final decision, senior Labour figures believe a “clear statement” could come as early as Monday.

One Labour peer, who is close to the prime minister, insisted Starmer would not “walk away” from No 10 creating a vacuum but would “arrange a deliberate slow march in good order, as a matter of duty and dignity”. The friend said: “I think he sees the realities. Stopping ‘chaos’ (as he rightly put it) is now not possible by staying, so that only leaves one option. I think he has come to see it as the dutiful option to serve the country and the party.”

Another Labour grandee said the prime minister now appeared “resigned” to stepping down. “He’s come up hard against the reality that the support isn’t there,” the source said. “The truth is everyone knows this is no longer a tenable proposition. There’s a sadness about it all, of course, but sometimes there’s just an inevitability in politics and as Boris Johnson said, ‘When the herd moves it moves’.”

A cabinet minister said Starmer was “calmly going through things” after a series of highly personal conversations with his closest allies over recent days. “He just wants to do what’s right for the country and, having spoken to the people he wants, he is now spending quality time with his most important adviser – Vic,” the minister said.

Burnham, who defied the odds to trounce Reform UK at last week’s byelection in the Greater Manchester seat, will be sworn in as an MP on Monday. He is due to meet the prime minister early this week.

His supporters claim he has now secured the support of more than 201 Labour MPs to challenge Starmer for the leadership if the prime minister does not step down voluntarily.

This is a critical number because it represents more than half the Parliamentary Labour party and means that Starmer can no longer tell the King that he is able to command the confidence of the House of Commons.

One senior Labour figure said: “There’s no doubt Andy is very significantly strengthened by the result on Thursday night. The question in MPs’ minds will be – who can stop a Reform government? He’s shown he can do that in Makerfield in a very emphatic manner.”

-          The Observer