Starmer began the day damaged and then things got worse

“Has Keir done enough to survive?” was the question anxious Labour MPs were asking each other throughout Monday, after the speech regarded by many as crucial to Starmer’s chances of political survival. But the anxiety for many of them, badly bruised by Thursday’s election crushing, did not stem from concern the prime minister might be ousted. But that he would not. Starmer began the day already damaged. As many as 40 MPs had called for him to set out a timetable for his departure. Leadership contenders were circling. He faced an unlikely stalking horse in backbench MP Catherine West. At the London community centre where he was giving his speech to Labour members, the few senior party figures present looked tense. Starmer, in shirt sleeves and without a tie, arrived with furrowed brow. “I take responsibility for not walking away, not plunging our country into chaos, as the Tories did time and again, chaos that did lasting damage to this country. A Labour government would never be forgiven for inflicting that on our country again,” he told the audience. “I know that people are frustrated by the state of Britain, frustrated by politics, and some people are frustrated with me. I know I have my doubters, and I know I need to prove them wrong, and I will.” The prime minister’s problem, however, is that a growing number of his own MPs are unlikely to change their minds. …