Stop plotting to oust Keir Starmer, ex-deputy Labour leader urges MPs

Labour MPs have been urged to stop plotting to remove Keir Starmer by Tom Watson, who as a junior minister spearheaded the last attempted coup against a Labour prime minister, when Tony Blair faced a revolt in 2006. Watson’s warning came as Steve Reed , the housing and communities secretary, and a key Starmer loyalist, said Labour would risk “annihilation” if it decided to try to change leaders. But with results for Labour expected to be particularly grim in Thursday’s elections for the Scottish and Welsh parliaments and English councils, senior party figures have told the Guardian that activists were being repeatedly told that the prime minister was the problem, rather than the party. “They don’t hate Labour, they hate Keir, as unfair as that is, and I do think it is massively unfair,” one said. There are nonetheless few expectations of a challenge soon after the elections, with expected challengers including Andy Burnham , Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting locked in what one cabinet minister called a “Mexican standoff”, with no one ready to move first. Watson’s warning came in a Substack post in which he recounted his role in events in 2006, when Blair faced a letter from some MPs calling on him to set a date for his departure as prime minister, coupled with some junior ministerial resignations, Watson’s among them. …