Highlights
- Starmer says he will lead Labour into the next general election and serve a full second term
- Catherine West, a former junior minister, says she has ten MPs behind her but hopes a stronger candidate will emerge
- Labour suffered its worst local election losses by a governing party since 1995
- More than 20 MPs have publicly or privately called on Starmer to quit
PRIME MINISTER Sir Keir Starmer is facing a direct challenge to his leadership after a former minister threatened to stand against him on Monday (11) unless his cabinet moves to replace him — but he has vowed to fight on, insisting his government is a "ten-year project".
Catherine West, who served as a junior foreign minister until Starmer sacked her last year, said she would put her name forward for the Labour leadership on Monday morning if no stronger candidate came forward.
She told the BBC she had ten MPs behind her, but added that her preferred outcome was for another candidate, one she suggested had "been planning for months", to step up instead.
"If there are no leadership hopefuls who come forward, then Monday morning I will put my name forward," she said.
To trigger a formal contest, any candidate would need the backing of 81 Labour MPs — 20 per cent of the party's 403 seats. West acknowledged she was some way short of that number, and a challenge would not be straightforward.
Several of the most plausible alternatives face obstacles of their own: Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham lacks a seat in parliament, and former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has yet to fully resolve the tax issues that led to her resignation last year.
Starmer under pressue after election loss
The pressure on Starmer follows Labour's worst performance by a governing party in local elections in more than thirty years. More than 20 MPs have publicly or privately called on him to set out a timetable for his departure, and a growing number within the party believe the result signals that voters have lost faith in his leadership less than two years after Labour's landslide general election victory.
Starmer has flatly refused to go. Asked in an interview with the Observer published on Sunday (10) whether he would lead Labour into the next election and serve a full second term, he said simply: "Yes, I will." He added that he was "not going to plunge the country into chaos" by walking away from the role he was elected to in July 2024.
Catherine West MP, Labour appears on BBC TV's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg in London, Britain, May 10, 2026. Jeff Overs/BBC/Handout via REUTERS
His cabinet has so far held firm behind him. Education secretary Bridget Phillipson told Sky News on Sunday that Starmer would use a speech on Monday to set out a "fresh direction" for the country. "We got a real kicking from the voters, there's no escaping that," she said. "We have to reflect seriously on that."
In a bid to reset his leadership over the weekend, Starmer announced that former prime minister Gordon Brown and former deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman, both 75, would join his team as advisers. Brown is expected to focus on defence investment and relations with the European Union, while Harman will work on tackling misogyny and violence against women.
The moves did little to quieten the unrest. If Starmer were to be removed in the coming weeks, Britain would have had seven prime ministers in a single decade. Were he to survive and serve a full second term, he would become the third-longest continuously serving prime minister in two centuries, behind only Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair.
West said she would listen to Monday's speech before making her final decision. Asked whether she thought she could secure the numbers needed, she told the BBC: "We will find out."
(with inputs from agencies)
