The British prime minister is sinking slowly as his party turns against him

May 12, 2026 — 9:05am

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London: The ponderous and painful revolt against Keir Starmer reached a point on Monday when the British Prime Minister had to address his Labour colleagues with an earnest plea to stay in the job.

Starmer, never one to show too much emotion, made a mildly passionate case against a leadership change he said would plunge the government into chaos and repeat the turmoil at the top under the previous Conservative prime ministers.

But he did not say what everyone knows. The main reason he is still in office is that his Labour colleagues do not have a compelling candidate to install in his place.

That means this sluggish Westminster drama is turning into a humiliation for the prime minister and an embarrassment for the Labour Party.

Hours after his morning address, the British press reported that about 70 of his colleagues were calling for his resignation. The numbers against him are increasing each day, but there is a sore lack of commitment and courage among the rivals who seem to think they could do a better job at Number 10 Downing Street.

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By Monday night in London (about 8am on Tuesday, AEST), there were background briefings to several media outlets about a move against Starmer in cabinet. These accounts said that Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper had told Starmer to set out a plan to step down.

This tumult follows the catastrophic drubbing for Labour at the council and regional elections last Thursday, when it lost votes to the Greens and lost even more ground to populist party Reform UK and its leader, Nigel Farage.

Starmer has been a marked man for at least a full year, but his colleagues waited for the election results before deciding their next steps.

If the three cabinet........

© The Age