The front page of The Times this morning notes Labour MPs calling for 'regime change'.
Let me caveat that. First, this is The Times. They are no lovers of Labour.
Second, this is what I am hearing. The discussion is open, accelerating, and expectations of timescales are getting shorter. The thought was that Starmer would go in 2026, having more than outstayed his welcome. Now the expectation is shorter.
You can only claim to be Labour and act as if you're a Tory/Reform hybrid for so long, and eventually, you push those who have a vestigial recall of what Labour was supposed to be about too far. Has that happened as yet? I am not sure. To be candid, I think the summer recess will probably save Starmer for now, presuming, as is inevitable, that he backs down in some way next week, as I suspect he will.
But the damage will have been done, and it will be deep-seated enough that I very much doubt that he, Rachel Reeves, Liz Kendall, and those most associated with Starmer as regular mouthpieces (Streeting, Reynolds, and maybe others) can survive this.
When will the coup happen, if not now? That is obviously hard to tell, but all those MPs who have found both sufficient cover and courage now to attack Starmer will never be as compliant again. They will realise that having at the Party's helm people who were willing to sacrifice disabled people to the great god of balanced budgets will not be forgotten by the electorate.
They will also notice what has happened in New York. They might realise that a little red water between them and the Tory/Reform position might be good for Labour. And then Starmer will be gone. His chance of fighting the next election now is near zero.
What has done for him? Three things.
First, his total hypocrisy is claiming to support the positions of Jeremy Corbyn, and then abandoning them all and having Corbyn ejected from the party.
Second, is his total inability to choose chief executives for his operations capable of delivering anything that looks to be remotely Labour at all. Sue Gray was a disaster, not appearing to understand politics. And Morgan McSweeney only appears to understand what the far right wants, hence the debacle now in play.
Third, Starmer lacks the essential quality of a good leader, which is a moral compass and the understanding to let that become apparent in ways that mean people comprehend just what the prime minister stands for. Starmer appears to stand for nothing, not even his own survival. All he has done is serve the balanced budget, and deep down, people do not believe in that.
So, Starmer will go. Of the Labour MPs not on the government payroll, approximately half have now shown their willingness to stand up to him. It is quite reasonable to think some in the payroll would be delighted to see the back of him (Yvette Cooper, more than any other).
Starmer will join Boris Johnson in having won a large, effectively meaningless, majority in the Commons and not seeing out his term. No one will mourn his departure, except Morgan McSweeney, maybe, although I am sure Farage has a job lined up for him.
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Would a sitting party leader/PM really waste such a massive commons majority based on personal umbrage?
I mean, really??
I’ve said before in these comments that if Labour had any sense, they would hire you, Richard. You’re right that Starmer is dancing somewhere between the Tories and Reform, because he simply hasn’t a Labour bone in his spine, and “Labour” now exists only as a useful brand to slap on his and Reeves’s ludicrous, destructive and self imposed fiscal rules. Between them, they are almost turning me into a conspiracy theorist!- because they are so clearly NOT Labour politicians in any sense that I understand. So what on earth do they want, and why? What motivates them, and what is the reward? I’m far from naive politically, been an activist since my 20s, now in my 60s. Is this willful blindness- but again, WHY? Starmer clearly has to go, along with McSweeney, who as far as I can see is Mandelson and Cummings rolled up into one. I certainly didn’t vote for more back room boys bullshit. Clare H. And YES to New York- a bit of bright hope.
Thanks.
I am not expecting a call.
Will he jump or will he be pushed? He seems totally unable to read the room. I am tired of working in the public sector and dealing with more cuts and people telling me I need to give Labour more time when it’s clear they have no strategy for sorting out the mess our public services are in.
There are some very decent MPs not currently on the front bench that could step in. Dawn Butler, Clive Lewis and Stella Creasy for a start. And I would love Andy Burnham as PM. He’s emotionally smart and a relationship builder with empathy for the ordinary person. And yes I know he’s not an MP.
And maybe it’s time the Labour party split so the likes of Angela Raynor never have to share a platform with Liz Kendall again?
Whatever happens it’s going to be very messy.
Never Creasey. She and Streeting are in cahoots.
I pretty much agree with all of this.
I really hope he goes one way or another and very soon.
As much as I dislike the Tories, they have always been ruthless in getting rid of their leaders, something Labour hasn’t seem to have done much, outside of general election defeats.
They turned on Corbyn; maybe they have a taste for it now.
“Starmer appears to stand for nothing, not even his own survival”…….Starmer is a glove puppet for assorted neoliberal/zionist interests who may be casting around for a replacement after all can’t have a government by the people for the people can we – what would the world come to if that happened. Doubtless B.Liar and the ghastly Mandelsohn are plotting, even now.
I do so hope you are right. Starmer’s premiership c has contained more betrayals in under a year than most Labour leaders manage in five. He has not only been a bad Labour leader, because he has jettisoned all vestiges of democratic socialism, but his dramatic swing to the hard nationalistic right, backing huge increases in taxpayer-funded militarism, active nuclear proliferation by adding freefall nuclear bombs to the already obscene Trident WMDs, his resurrection of a moribund civil nuclear industry with lavish tax-payer funded support, his support for Israeli genocide in Gaza, plus his attack on welfare support for the most vulnerable ( having suspended several leftist Labour MPs like Zarah Sultana and John Mc Donnell for voting against earlier welfare cuts) , demonstrate a cruel streak in his persona that prefers big business, nuclear hegemony, and dismissal of the interests of the vulnerable and the poor.
An absolutely disastrous PM.
Agreed.
Now, are there 80 Labour MPs willing to mount a challenge?
And even more important, is there a Labour MP who can:
1. Get 80+ nominations?
2. Win a leadership election ending up with the support of a majority of the 403 Labour MPs?
3. See off the BoD, Luke Akehurst and Trevor Chinn by openly resisting their interference in the leadership process?
4. Significantly change course, in particular, drop the party’s enslavement to neoliberal economics, external lobbies, and Thatcher’s “household analogy”?
5. Start the long job of peacefully making the UK and the world, a better place to be born into, live in, and die in. (Yes, that is what goverments are for)
1& 2 Angela Rayner, 3,4,5 No
I think Starmer reads the room perfectly, and is doing exactly as he is told.
Remember that he is unique in having an Act of Parliament devoted to him:
“The Pensions Increase (Pension Scheme for Keir Starmer QC) Regulations 2013”
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/2588/made
It means his pension is tax free, and he is laughing all the way to the bank.
Nothing says it is tax free when he receives it.
Let’s not forget that Rishi Sunak and the Tories lost the election, rather than Labour winning the election, something Starmer has not grasped. All these tactical voting sites were focused on getting Tories out with very little scrutiny of what you were instead voting in. I am not a Labour voter and could already see Starmer was not good,but many were hoodwinked I to thinking they had to be better and still think we need to give them time. Well he’s had his time and we deserve something better.
It cant happen soon enough ! unless they dump neoliberal economics too it wont make that much of a difference with the big changes the UK needs .
I agree with your analysis of Starmer
and am at a loss re who in the PLP
would be up to the job, other than
Clive Lewis. Although I doubt the PLP would support him.
Neil Lawson wrote an inciteful piece for the Byline Times
https://bylinetimes.com/2025/06/26/keir-starmer-leadership-analysis/
He makes some really good points about what makes a good leader for 21st cen. Well worth a read.
Thanks
“Starmer appears to stand for nothing, not even his own survival. All he has done is serve the balanced budget, and deep down, people do not believe in that.”
Actually Starmer stands for the military security establishment, the defence industry, and Israel. Nothing else.
What is extraordinary is that he has learnt nothing about how politics is not at all like running the DPP. Its about relationships, not just power and sucking up to it. He acts as if the public are just a mindless blob who believe anything he says, and can just be treated as chumps. A truly hopeless politician. At least Johnson knew how to gee up a crowd and get the troops enthused.
Yes, a new PM! But to do what? Back to the manifesto? Is that enough? Or do we need “Manifesto Plus”?
To deliver real change, Labour must:
Ditch the household budget analogy and adopt fiscal rules that support long-term investment.
Tackle inequality head-on with fairer taxation of the wealthy, capital, and inheritance.
Scale up green investment well beyond current pledges to meet climate and energy goals.
Develop a serious inflation strategy focused on supply-side investment and public control, not blunt interest rate hikes.
Tell a much more compelling story that government can rebuild society, reduce inequality, and drive renewal.
Without making these changes at the very least, Labour will be offering only a softer version of the status quo, when what the country needs is transformation.
Perhaps over the summer recess Labour MP’s will reflect and come to the same obvious conclusion that pretty much everyone else has come to. That the country as a whole now perceive this Labour Government as being a bunch of self serving callous uncaring hypocrites. They are not wrong. People are disgusted by and are not going to forget the WFP, the 2 child benefit cap and PIP. Especially while at the same time trying to instil fear by ordering 12 bombers.