Prime Minister’s days are clearly numbered – and his bungling Chancellor could deliver the fatal blow
Keir Starmer may have met his nemesis in Rachel Reeves (Image: Getty)
Sir Keir Starmer’s political future is hanging by the thinnest possible thread. Hour by hour, his position only grows more perilous.
Every time he tries to twist and wriggle out of the mess he’s got himself into, the thread only frays further. At some point, the threat will be cut, and he’ll plunge into the political abyss. Starmer’s political enemies are circling like vultures, waiting to fall on the carcass.
I’m not talking about the Tories or Nigel Farage’s Reform. The real threat comes from within his own ranks. Starmer is his own worst enemy, obviously, because he’s politically incompetent, but when he looks about him, he’ll find plenty more.
Sensing his moment, Wes Streeting is sharpening his knife. Insiders say the Health Secretary is preparing to make a leadership bid.
Perennial Labour leadership candidate Andy Burnham is also licking his lips, but has a problem. He’s not an MP, and has to somehow find a Labour safe seat to become one. But there’s no such thing these days.
Angela Rayner looks like the biggest threat. She’s made it clear she’s ready and willing to charge into battle when the moment comes.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood fancies a pop too, although she may have lost the Left of the party thanks to her hardline immigration stance.
And I haven’t named the biggest threat of all yet.
Many assumed Starmer will be gone next year, most likely after May’s local elections, when Labour faces annihilation. But Labour MPs are looking at his dreadful poll ratings and asking themselves this question: why wait?
What they need is a catalyst. Something or someone to sever the fraying thread holding him up. They may not have to wait long. It could just be days away.
Starmer’s thread may be cut by one of the few Cabinet allies he has left: Labour’s bungling Chancellor, Rachel Reeves.
She’s one of his closest allies with no plans to run herself (or hope of victory if she did). But she still has the power to finish him off.
All eyes are now on November 26. Budget Day. That’s when Reeves may deliver the killer blow, while desperately trying not to.
In a cruel irony – or amusing one, depending on your point of view – loyalist Reeves could be the very person who brings Starmer down.
Her Budget has been condemned as an “omnishambles” before she even delivers it. And now she’s trapped. She can’t borrow more or break her fiscal rules, as the bond market would go berserk.
She can’t cut spending or hike income tax, as backbench MPs would go berserk. Instead, she’ll hike a whole “smorgasbord” of smaller taxes. Unfortunately, they’ll poison the economy, and stunt its growth for good.
Reeves has no good options, and no way out of the hole she’s dug for herself.
One false move could cause a run on the pound, a spike in gilt yields or stock market meltdown. And possibly all three. Which might all finish off Starmer.
The chances of Reeves navigating this tightrope are thin to non-existent. One slip, and Starmer’s thread may be cut clean.
For the PM to survive, Reeves has to get this right. Given her track record, he must be shaking like a leaf.
