Former UK minister challenges PM Starmer’s leadership

Catherine West, a former Indo-Pacific minister in British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Government, has given Labour ministers an ultimatum to unite behind a successor after the party’s disastrous local election results.

The Labour MP from north London on Saturday launched a ‘stalking horse’ leadership bid aimed at encouraging a stronger contender to emerge.

West said that Labour’s poor performance in Thursday’s elections for local councils across England and devolved administrations in Wales and Scotland was a “message from the working people” and the party must act to keep Reform UK leader Nigel Farage out of Downing Street.

“I was honoured to serve under Keir Starmer’s leadership, both in Opposition and in Government. All of us in the Labour Party are thankful to Keir for the 2024 General Election and the good work since. I personally get on well with Keir,” said West.  “But his approach is not cutting through, and the results over the past 48 hours are nothing short of disastrous. Unless things change, we risk Nigel Farage becoming prime minister. That’s why, with regret and significant sadness, I firmly believe that Keir should outline his intention to resign as Prime Minister and oversee an orderly transition. “The Labour Party need the chance to have an honest conversation about how we deliver the change we promised in 2024, and that requires new leadership which understands the urgent and real concerns of people across the UK,” she said.  Starmer has indicated plans for a major speech on Monday to set out his strategy to revive the Labour Government’s electoral fortunes before a general election in 2029, starting with the appointment of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown as advisor.

However, West has demanded that Starmer must use the speech to set out a timetable for his exit as party leader to make way for a new PM. “Keir has demonstrated significant leadership on the world stage and is well placed to represent the UK’s national interest while this process takes place and may even continue in an international role in the future but for now I know I speak for more Labour people than just myself in wanting him to step aside as our Leader,” she added in a social media post.

Speaking to reporters on Sunday, the former Foreign Office minister said that she will be forced to enter the race to trigger a leadership election unless ministers choose a credible successor. “Once I’ve listened carefully to what he (Starmer) says (on Monday), I will be demanding a timetable for an orderly transition,” West told reporters. “What I want the Cabinet to do is to close themselves into a room today and come up with somebody who they can all get behind, which would mean we wouldn’t have to have a leadership election,” the Labour MP said.

“And if that can happen, then we can have a very quiet transition without upsetting anybody, without having to go to all of the members,” she added.

Starmer has pledged to fight on despite Labour’s historic defeat, losing swathes of council seats across England to smaller parties led by anti-immigration Reform UK, with Greens and Liberal Democrats also picking up key councils.