Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer is fighting to keep his job after his appeal for a “reset,” following disastrous results in last week’s local elections, was met with scores of lawmakers in his governing Labour Party calling for him to quit.
In a speech to the Labour faithful in London, Starmer said he took responsibility for the heavy losses in councils across England and in elections for the Welsh and Scottish parliaments. But he vowed to stay in his job, saying a change in leadership would plunge Britain into the “chaos” that flourished under the Conservative Party, which ousted two leaders in the two years before Starmer took office.
“What we witnessed with the last government was the chaos of constantly changing leaders, and it cost this country a huge amount,” Starmer said Monday morning. “A Labour government would never be forgiven for inflicting that on our country again.”
Yet by Monday evening, the Labour Party appeared to be on the brink of doing just that. More than 70 Labour Members of Parliament (MPs) have publicly urged Starmer to resign as prime minister or set out a timetable for his departure, while several have quit as ministerial aides. If Starmer chooses to step aside, or is ousted, his successor would become Britain’s seventh prime minister in a decade.
Despite winning a landslide election in 2024, the British public soured on Starmer almost as soon as he took office. Attacked from the right over his perceived failure to control illegal immigration, from the left over unpopular economic policies – and by many across the political spectrum over his lack of charisma and political vision – Starmer’s position had been deteriorating for months.
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