One of Sir Keir Starmer's closest allies has called for him to step down as Prime Minister in the wake of the local elections. The Labour Party suffered what was termed an "unequivocal judgment" as it lost more than 1,400 councillor seats across the country.
Josh Simons, a former director of the Labour Together think tank, said he did not "believe the Prime Minister can rise to this moment." Labour Together was a key part in Starmer's rise to general election victory, with Mr Simons considered a loyalist to the Prime Minister.
Writing in The Times, he said: “When a party fears the people it was created to represent, it is marching towards extinction. These elections were not a normal mid-term drubbing, they were an unequivocal judgment that our actions do not meet the moment. We constantly talk big, then act small.
“Putting the people I represent and the country I love first, I do not believe the Prime Minister can rise to this moment. He has lost the country. He should take control of the situation by overseeing an orderly transition to a new prime minister.”
He added: “This was not an easy piece to write. But because of my history in the Labour Party I felt a duty to be honest. We Labour MPs must square up to the truth. These elections were not a normal mid-term drubbing, they were an unequivocal judgement that our actions do not meet the moment. To put the country first, the PM should lead an orderly transition. Senior figures across the party should urgently come together to agree a path forward.”
However, Starmer does have allies left, with John Slinger, the Labour MP for Rugby, saying the PM and Chancellor Rachel Reeves "have got the big judgment calls right on the economy."
Writing for LabourList, Mr Slinger said: “This serious moment in our politics demands a serious response, serious people, ideas and actions. The disappointing election results demand that lessons are learned and responsibility is taken, as Keir Starmer has done. But the responsibility for a serious response, and the need to call out unseriousness, must be shared more widely.
“Yes, we need to go further, faster and more boldly, and I argued on LabourList that we need an ‘action this day’ approach. But we must be careful not to do the work of our opponents and their backers among the vested interests... We’re talking about the leader of the fifth largest economy of the world, not the president of a debating society.
“Keir Starmer isn’t an accidental leader, or merely the best of a series of bad choices. He’s the leader who, together with Chancellor Rachel Reeves and his ministers, have got the big judgment calls right on the economy, on public services, on Iran and more besides.”
