Sir Keir Starmer survived the most serious challenge yet to his leadership on Monday, even as fresh tensions emerged between the embattled prime minister and one of his leading rivals.
Starmer’s authority was badly damaged after Anas Sarwar, Labour’s leader in Scotland, called on him to resign less than two years after winning power, saying there had been “too many mistakes”.
The prime minister’s allies claimed that Sarwar’s move was co-ordinated with health secretary Wes Streeting, who is seen as a contender for the Labour leadership if and when Starmer leaves office.
“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to wonder whether Wes knew about and encouraged him to make a move,” said one MP allied to Starmer.
Streeting’s team hit back, directly criticising Starmer’s Downing Street operation for trying to implicate the health secretary even after he had voiced some support for the prime minister.
“We did not ask Anas to do this, he did not co-ordinate with Anas on this, Anas is the leader of the Scottish Labour party, he is his own man, and Wes has the highest respect for him,” said a spokesperson for Streeting.
The crisis engulfing Starmer began at the end of January, with the release of documents in the US showing Lord Peter Mandelson passed confidential UK government information to the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in the wake of the 2007 financial crisis.
The revelations, which also included bank statements appearing to show Epstein sending money to Mandelson years earlier, intensified questions over his appointment to the role of British ambassador to Washington by Starmer.
Starmer’s director of communications Tim Allan stepped down on Monday, the latest senior aide to quit. Number 10 chief of staff Morgan McSweeney resigned on Sunday, saying he took full responsibility for advising the prime minister to appoint Mandelson.
Sarwar, who fears major losses in May in the elections to the Scottish parliament, said the public were “crying out for a competent government” and that the situation in Downing Street “cannot continue” under the current leadership.
The pound fell against the euro and government borrowing costs rose as traders bet on an increased chance of Starmer leaving office.
But the entire cabinet subsequently issued public proclamations of loyalty to the prime minister, calming markets.
On Monday evening Starmer pleaded for more time to deliver “change” for the country as he addressed the parliamentary Labour party at its weekly meeting.
Streeting’s declaration of support was among the most tepid from the cabinet, after he told Sky News that Starmer “doesn’t need to resign” but admitted the atmosphere in Westminster was “febrile”.
Streeting, from the right of the Labour party, is seen as the primary rival to former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, who would count on support from the left in a fight to succeed Starmer.
Many Labour MPs believe Starmer is now treading water before a coup de grace from his colleagues, either after an imminent parliamentary by-election in Greater Manchester or after the May elections in Scotland, Wales and parts of England.
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