‘Why are we even doing this?’ The week that left Britain’s PM looking like an interim leader

I t was a minute or so into his BBC interview on Friday morning, after being asked about “moves” to remove Keir Starmer , that Steve Reed ran out of patience. “There is no contest,” he interrupted. “‘Moves’ mean nothing. People need 81 nominations to stand against the prime minister.” The housing secretary, a close ally of Starmer and a founding member of the Labour Together thinktank that catapulted him to power, was right, of course: no one has formally challenged the prime minister, let …