UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces growing calls to quit

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has told his cabinet that he will get on with governing, pointing out that a formal challenge has not been mounted against his leadership.

Starmer told his cabinet that he takes responsibility for last week’s poor local election results, but that he also takes responsibility “for delivering the change we promised” in 2024, when Labour was elected in a landslide.

Starmer’s defiant comments have laid down the gauntlet to his potential challengers. To oust Starmer as leader of the Labour Party – and therefore as Prime Minister – any rival will need to gather the support of 81 Labour lawmakers.

In a speech Monday, Starmer vowed not to take Britain back to the chaotic churn at the top of government that occurred in the final years of the last Conservative government.

He stressed to his cabinet: “The past 48 hours have been destabilising for government and that has a real economic cost for our country and for families.”

UK borrowing costs have hit their highest level in almost three decades, as investors worry that Prime Minister Keir Starmer, should he bow to pressure to resign, would be replaced by a more left-leaning candidate who could weaken public finances.

The yield on 30-year gilts hit 5.8% in morning trade, the highest since 1998, according to Reuters. Benchmark 10-year gilt yields rose to 5.11%, near the highest since 2008. Meanwhile, the pound dropped around 0.7% against the dollar to $1.36 and was modestly lower against the euro at €1.15.

Bond yields rise when prices fall, indicating lower demand for bonds and that investors are demanding a higher return to hold the assets because they anticipate increased credit risks or higher interest rates.

“A leftwards lurch would raise hackles among bond vigilantes at a time when the fiscal position is already fragile, and risks are rising due to rising inflation from soaring energy prices and a weaker growth outlook for the economy,” said Neil Wilson, a strategist at Saxo bank.

Higher government spending, lower economic growth and embedded inflation “would be a toxic combination for gilts,” he added.

British Health Secretary Wes Streeting walks to attend a cabinet meeting at Downing Street on Tuesday.

Ostensibly, this morning’s cabinet meeting in Downing Street is to discuss the government’s response to the situation in the Middle East.

That issue has likely fallen down the agenda, after more than 70 Labour lawmakers – including a member of Starmer’s government – publicly called for him to step aside.

This morning’s meeting will instead be dominated by the question of whether Starmer – given the rebellion within his party, and voters’ rejection of his Labour Party in local elections last week – can remain in post.

Secretary of State for Wales, Jo Stevens, arrives at Downing Street on Tuesday.

We’ve seen a string of cabinet members arrive at 10 Downing Street for a crunch meeting. The meeting is thought to be underway.

Starmer and his finance chief Rachel Reeves visit the Airbus Defence and Space facilities as part the Labour general election campaign on May 28, 2024.

Economists at Capital Economics, a British think tank, have warned a change in the top job in the UK government could lead to higher borrowing costs.

Ruth Gregory and Joe Maher said they’d expect Keir Starmer’s potential successors to be “not as fiscally disciplined” and increase public spending.

Starmer and his finance chief Rachel Reeves have imposed strict spending rules on the government, aiming to reduce the country’s debt burden and boost economic growth. But that has led to some painful decisions – and it has not yet delivered the desired goals.

Gregory and Maher said a new leader might ditch the strict rules in favor of more spending. But, their expectations for that to work are low.

“We doubt a new Prime Minister would be any more successful at boosting the economy’s medium-term growth rate,” they said.

The economists pointed out the markets appear to agree – yields on the 10-year UK government bonds, known as gilts, were already rising – this means that fewer investors are interested in buying them and UK’s borrowing costs are set to go higher. Similarly, the British pound is trading lower against the euro.

However, Gregory and Maher also said that while domestic politics is playing a role in the markets, the war in Iran is likely to have more impact on the economy.

Larry the cat waits at the door of 10 Downing Street prior to the arrival of incoming Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer following Labour's landslide election victory on July 5, 2024.

You might be forgiven for not keeping up with British politics – there has been a lot of change in the past decade. With more and more members of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s own party turning against him, the chances of the UK getting to “four in four” – four Prime Ministers in as many years, appear to be growing.

As a reminder, here is a list of the occupants of the famous 10 Downing Street residence over the past decade:

Communities Minister Miatta Fahnbulleh attends the Co-operative Party Conference at the Leonardo Royal Hotel, London, on November 15.

Yesterday, dozens of backbench Members of Parliament put their heads above the parapet in calling for Keir Starmer to step down as UK Prime Minister.

Within the last hour, the first government minister has joined them.

Miatta Fahnbulleh, the Minister for Devolution, Faith and Communities, wrote in a letter to Starmer that his Labour government has not “acted with the vision, pace and ambition that our mandate for change demands of us.”

Some context: Fanbulleh’s intervention – coming just minutes before Starmer’s crunch meeting with his cabinet – is significant.

Typically, governments can withstand rebellions among backbench MPs. It becomes harder to cling to power when members of the government call for a change at the top.

Quite hard.

Under Labour party rules, a leadership election is triggered if a single candidate gathers the signatures of one fifth of Labour’s Members of Parliament. At present, that means 81 signatures.

That candidate would then need to be nominated by at least 5% of constituency parties or at least three affiliates, two of which must be trade unions.

If the candidate meets those requirements, their name will be put on the ballot in a leadership election. More than one challenger can be on the ballot, if they meet the requirements. Keir Starmer, as the current Labour leader, would automatically be on the ballot if he chose to run.

Labour’s National Executive Committee then sets a timeline for party members to choose their new leader in a one-member-one-vote ballot.

Unlike the Conservative Party, however, Labour does not have a history of regicide; the party has never mounted an official challenge against a sitting prime minister. When Tony Blair stepped down as prime minister in 2007, in part due to divisions in the party over the Iraq War, his long-anointed successor, Gordon Brown, was elected unopposed to take over as prime minister and party leader.

The Conservative Party has an easier time in ousting its leaders. Conservative MPs can initiate a leadership challenge if 15% of them write to the chair of the 1922 Committee to request one. Conservative MPs then vote in a secret ballot, confirming their support for or against the leader.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer meets Labour Party members at Kingsdown Methodist Church Hall in Ealing, on May 8, the day after disastrous local election results.

If UK Prime Minister Keir 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.

Last week’s local election results – which saw Labour lose more than 1,400 seats across English councils and control of the Welsh parliament, where it had been the largest party for decades – appear to have convinced dozens of Labour lawmakers that Starmer is not capable of winning the next general election, due by the summer of 2029.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer gives a speech at Coin Street Community Centre in London on Monday.

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.

Starmer is meeting members of his cabinet this morning, and we’ll bring you any developments as we get them.