Keir Starmer Facing Date With Destiny As His Premiership Hangs In The Balance

A disastrous set of results on May 7 may spur Labour MPs into action – but others aren't so sure.

For Labour, the elections on May 7 have been looming on the horizon like a giant, immovable iceberg for months.

Every opinion poll tells the same story: voters in England, Scotland and Wales are preparing to deliver an unforgiving verdict on Keir Starmer’s first 22 months in power.

Up to 2,000 council seats are set to be lost, while the SNP will romp to another victory at Holyrood and Labour will lose a Welsh election for the first time in the party’s history.

After another hellish week for the prime minister dominated by the latest developments in the Peter Mandelson scandal, many at Westminster now think that the sheer scale of Labour’s humiliation will finally trigger moves to remove Starmer from Downing Street.

“I suspect the people round Keir know it’s coming to an end,” said one senior Labour figure. “He only has a few supporters left – they can surely see the writing on the wall?”

An idea gaining traction in some quarters is that, to end the speculation about his future, Starmer should announce when he plans to stand down.

“Post-May, MPs will start saying Keir has to set out a timetable for going,” said one proponent.

“Labour can’t make the mistakes the Democrats made in America. Joe Biden left it too late to go and helped usher in Trump. Keir is helping to usher in Nigel Farage.

“He should announce he’s going in the next 12 months to allow an orderly transition to a new Labour prime minister.

“He can then focus on legacy issues he cares about for final year. That would allow a new leader to be in place by summer 2027.”

Of course, Starmer would need to be amenable to such a scenario, and there is little sign that a man who came to Westminster relatively........

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