Crunch time for the prime minister
In the last 24 hours the prime minister has come under immense pressure from within his own party to resign or set out a timetable for departure.
As per reports, around 80 Labour MPs are now calling on Starmer to vacate his role, almost a quarter of the number of incumbent MPs the party have in the House of Commons.
Meanwhile, it has been reported that a number of senior cabinet ministers are advising the prime minister to step down.
These include Shabana Mahmood and three others who have not been specified, as per The Times, but The Guardian believe Yvette Cooper is another.
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What will Starmer do now?
As per reports, the prime minister already has his day planned out, with a crunch cabinet meeting slated for this morning.
These meetings are weekly, but it is certain that the topic of Starmer’s potential departure will be on the cards as Labour look to save their favourability in the polls after a catastrophic round of local elections.
The prime minister has reiterated on multiple occasions in the last week that he would “not walk away” or give up on his role.
For the time being, there is no indication that he will be resigning today.
However, this could all change depending on how this morning’s cabinet meeting goes.
Could he be forced out?
Theoritically yes, in a sense that is what is already happening.
A party leader can be removed in two ways; the forceful way, or the coercive way.
Backbencher MP Catherine West had attempted the former just on Friday, saying she would challenge Starmer by this Monday if he did not set out a timetable for departure.
She started collecting signatures and would have needed 20% of Labour MPs (81) to trigger a leadership contest.
While West suspended her leadership challenger before her Monday ultimatum, the number of Labour MPs calling on Starmer’s departure is now in that ballpark requirement.
The other way Starmer could be made to quit is the way we are currently seeing, coersion and pressure from within.
People quitting and others calling for his resignation.
While Starmer still has some allies, the writing looks likes it’s on the wall.
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