A Labour minister of parliament canceled her leadership challenge against U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer but demanded that he exit his position by September.
The Labour Party has been in crisis mode since last week after it suffered devastating losses in local elections. Over the weekend, Labour MP Catherine West began rallying votes for a leadership challenge, but backed down on Monday after a speech from the prime minister.
“I have listened to the prime minister’s speech this morning. I welcome the renewed energy and ideas. However, I have reluctantly concluded that this morning’s speech was too little too late,” she said in a statement, adding that the election results showed he has “failed to inspire hope.”
“What is best for the party and country now is for an orderly transition,” West continued. “I am hereby giving notice to No 10 that I am collecting names of Labour MPs to call on the prime minister to set a timetable for the election of a new leader in September.”
The most notable takeaway from her statement, however, was the subtle communication that she wouldn’t go through with her leadership challenge. Instead of positioning herself as the new leader of Labour, in calling for an “orderly transition” and suggesting that Starmer had lost voter confidence, BBC Chief Political Correspondent Henry Zeffman pointed out that she “now joins a club of a few dozen MPs who have said that.”
West has served in parliament since 2015. Her challenge was notable as she hadn’t previously made headlines. The threat over the weekend to force a leadership challenge was the furthest a member of the party had publicly gone, setting up an existential crisis for Starmer’s premiership.
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With West out of the picture, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has emerged as the most prominent contender for Starmer’s position, with prominent figures such as former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner signaling support.
Starmer is at historically unpopular levels of support after failing to solve several crises gripping the United Kingdom. On Thursday, his party was booted from power in Wales after over a century in power, and saw unparalleled losses to the national populist Reform U.K. and left-wing Green Parties.
