Starmer needs sharper survival strategy if he is to stay on

The last time Keir Starmer faced a threat to his leadership, his core team assembled in the cabinet room and persuaded ministers to fire off a succession of supportive tweets in an attempt to keep him in office. This time has been different. As the number of MPs calling for the prime minister to resign has grown over the last 48 hours, much of the cabinet has remained quiet. And though the prime minister remained in office by Tuesday night, some in government were wondering whether his political operation was as sharp as it once was, especially since the departure of Starmer’s long-term aide Morgan McSweeney. “How could they not plan for this, it’s mad,” said one MP, frustrated at what they saw as a lack of fightback from Downing Street. Another said there was “literally no guidance or plan, I have no idea what plan it was that they think they were preparing”. Starmer’s political operation is a very different one from what it was for most of his first 20 months in office, during which the prime minister would decide the broad direction of the government but leave much of the daily politics to McSweeney. When faced with a scandal, for example, it was often McSweeney who would lead the strategy over how to respond and, if required, make the first phone call to a minister whom the prime minister wanted to resign. McSweeney resigned as chief of staff in February over his role in recommending Peter Mandelson as ambassador in Washington. …