‘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 alone ousted him. But the reality is stark. In one short but tumultuous week, Starmer has shed so much authority that many of his MPs – let alone the wider public – view him as, in effect, an interim leader, still in office only until the necessary arrangements can be made for a replacement. This risks being an oversimplification. After Wes Streeting resigned as health secretary but seemingly edged away from a leadership challenge, Andy Burnham is seen as the successor apparent. But the Greater Manchester mayor is not yet in parliament and will first have to win a byelection in Makerfield, a constituency on the edge of Wigan where Reform UK is bullish about its chances and where the Greens are also likely to campaign hard . Those around the prime minister insist that not only will he fight on but that it has been utterly bizarre for a party that spent much of its time in opposition on internal battles to do the same less than two years after a landslide election win. …