UK PM Starmer defies calls to quit, says he is getting on with governing

LONDON - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer defied calls to resign on May 12, telling ministers he would “get on with governing” despite a “destabilising” 48 hours of growing calls to set out a timetable for his departure after a drubbing in local elections.

At a meeting of his Cabinet team of ministers, Mr Starmer, in the top job for less than two years, repeated that while he took responsibility for one of his Labour Party’s worst election defeats, there had been no official move to trigger a leadership contest. Several loyal ministers expressed their support for him.

It was the latest pledge from Mr Starmer to press on with a premiership that has been dogged by scandal and policy U-turns since he won a large majority at a national election in 2024, and leaves the leader and Labour rebels in something of a stalemate.

Support in the wider Labour Party has also started to ebb away.

Ms Jess Phillips, a well-known Labour lawmaker and women’s rights campaigner, became one of three junior ministers to resign on May 12, joining more than 80 lawmakers who have publicly called on Mr Starmer to set a timetable for leaving office.

All eyes were on a clutch of senior party figures, such as Health Minister Wes Streeting, who has made little secret of his ambition to become prime minister one day, to see whether they would move to challenge Mr Starmer directly.

Borrowing costs rise

In a nod to an increase in borrowing costs on the markets over fears of another bout of political instability in Britain, Mr Starmer said the “past 48 hours have been destabilising for government and that has a real economic cost for our country and for families”.

“The Labour Party has a process for challenging a leader and that has not been triggered,” he told his Cabinet, according to his Downing Street office.

“The country expects us to get on with governing. That is what I am doing and what we must do as a Cabinet.”

Leaving the meeting, several senior ministers offered Mr Starmer their support, with Pensions Minister Pat McFadden telling reporters that no one had challenged the Prime Minister at Cabinet.

Others who are thought to want Mr Starmer to go, including Mr Streeting and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, either left without comment or did not leave via Downing Street, where reporters were gathered.

In her resignation statement, Ms Phillips, a junior minister not in the Cabinet, said Mr Starmer’s timid style and incremental approach would not deliver the change the country needed, adding her name to those who want a new leader installed in an orderly manner.

Much-promised stability evaporates

The ongoing developments were a long way from when Mr Starmer first became Labour leader in 2020, inheriting the party after its worst national election showing since 1935 under his predecessor, veteran left-winger Jeremy Corbyn.

He was then seen as a safe pair of hands able to drag Labour more towards the centre ground.

At the 2024 election, he won one of the largest majorities in modern British history for Labour with an offer of stability after years of chaos under the Conservatives, who oversaw five prime ministers in eight years and left what his government called a “black hole” of unfunded spending commitments in the public finances.

Now, he is fighting for his political survival.

On May 11, Mr Starmer had again vowed to stay the course, saying succumbing to calls for him to go would bring in the type of chaos that has dogged Britain since the nation narrowly voted in favour of Brexit in 2016.

Bond markets have been sensitive to any suggestion that Mr Starmer and his finance minister Rachel Reeves could go, and be replaced by someone further on the left who might want to borrow and spend more.

Hard to remove Labour PM

One Labour lawmaker told Reuters on the condition of anonymity: “I can’t see how he gets through the day.

“If we’re on 70-odd now, the number who think he should go but haven’t gone public is easily double that.”

It is generally harder for Labour lawmakers to remove a prime minister than the opposition Conservative Party. While dozens of Labour lawmakers might have expressed their dissatisfaction with Mr Starmer, 81 of them need to rally behind one single candidate to trigger a contest.

Ms Jenny Chapman, a junior minister in the Foreign Office, said the majority of Labour’s 403 lawmakers “don’t want the chaos”.

Removing Mr Starmer now – or forcing him to set a departure date – would likely favour Mr Streeting, who is in a position to move first. His supporters say Mr Streeting, who hails from the right of the party, would be a better communicator than Mr Starmer.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, who are other possible challengers, face obstacles to running, with both seen as favourites of the moderate left of the party. Mr Burnham does not have the seat in Parliament he needs to mount a challenge and Ms Rayner has yet to fully resolve the tax issues that prompted her resignation from office in 2025. REUTERS