The Labour has made it easier for rivals to challenge him for the top job
Andy Burnham and Keir Starmer (Image: Getty)
It is no surprise that Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership is under threat from Andy Burnham, or anyone else for that matter. The Labour leader has had a disastrous first 14 months as Prime Minister which has seen him lurch from crisis to crisis.
Not only have his party’s poll ratings tumbled but his personal ones too, meaning he is now regarded as one of the worst leaders in the western world. Scandals over freebies, Angela Rayner’s tax affairs and Peter Mandelson’s close friendship with the paedophile Jeffery Epstein have come on top of a slew of political failures.
Jeremy Corbyn and Keir Starmer (Image: Getty)
Scrapping the winter fuel payment – reversed later – will never be forgotten by millions of pensioners.
Tax hikes, notably to farmers and family businesses, have damaged him politically too, as has the debacle over disability benefits which infuriated many Labour backbenchers.
This has left him vulnerable within the party with MPs demanding a change in direction.
But it was an announcement 12 months ago which, for a man who is prone to the odd political gaffe or two,could be the biggest of the lot.
During last year’s annual conference in Liverpool, Labour changed the rules for the election of future party leaders.
Sir Keir’s plan was to confine the vote for his successor just to Labour MPs, eliminating the wider party membership.
The effect of the change, he hoped, was to make it virtually impossible for an insurgent left-winger to seize the leadership, as Jeremy Corbyn did in 2015.
The thinking was that only a mainstream Labour MP, most probably a Cabinet minister like Wes Streeting or Rachel Reeves, would stand a realistic chance of winning a majority of 2024’s largely centrist cohort of Labour MPs.
Angela Rayner (Image: Getty)
A potential challenger for the Labour leadership requires the support of 20% of MPs to call an election to choose a replacement.
Sir Keir would automatically be on the ballot unless deciding otherwise.
With backbenchers bristling at their leader’s dismal leadership, the Prime Minister has effectively made it easier for him to be ousted.
Burnham, who has previously tried and failed twice, is now the frontrunner to be the next Labour leader and is clearly agitating to have a crack at Sir Keir.
The only problem is that the Mayor of Greater Manchester isn’t an MP and No 10 keeps decisions on vacancies pretty tight.
If he were to make a return to Westminster then it could pave the way for the biggest North vs South battle since the Britpop wars of Oasis vs Blur in the 1990s.
