Britain’s Starmer says he will not walk away and vows to prove doubters wrong

LONDON - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer sought to quell a mounting rebellion in his party with an impassioned speech on May 11 in which he vowed to prove his doubters wrong and said he would not walk away to avoid plunging Britain into a new political crisis.

Fighting for his survival as potential leadership rivals circle, Mr Starmer pledged to deliver more radical change to the country, an admission that he had been too timid in the face of two decades of economic stagnation and mounting social tensions.

In a speech that was light on new policies but filled with pleas to his party and personal attacks on his opponents, he said he would build closer ties with the European Union, create better job opportunities for young people and nationalise British Steel.

“I’m not going to walk away,” he said.

Mr Starmer was seeking to appeal to a growing number of Labour lawmakers who have turned on him after his party suffered the worst local election results for a governing party in more than three decades last week.

It prompted a former junior minister to threaten to seek a leadership contest, a move that could force a wider leadership race if she can get the backers.

Mr Starmer warned his centre-left Labour Party could not afford to turn on each other, confronted by the “very dangerous” populist Reform UK and left-wing Green Party, which he said wanted grievance and division: “looking not for solutions but for someone to blame”.

“I know that people are frustrated by the state of Britain. Frustrated by politics, and some people frustrated with me,” he said in a speech in London. “I know I have my doubters and I know I need to prove them wrong. And I will.”

Mr Starmer won one of the largest parliamentary majorities in modern British history in 2024 with promises to expand the economy, lower illegal immigration and cut waiting lists in the state-run health service.

However, progress has been hampered by policy U-turns, perceptions among some in his party that he is unwilling to take difficult decisions, and a series of political scandals, contributing to some of the lowest approval ratings of any British prime minister.

The uncertainty has pushed up borrowing costs as investors fear that Mr Starmer could be replaced by a more left-wing leader willing to borrow more - a rerun of the chaos that ensued in the latter years of the previous Conservative Party which struggled to govern.

Reform UK, led by Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, has now led national opinion polls for more than a year and at the local elections last week the Greens also made large advances in British cities.

Mr Starmer sought to show he had got the message from his angry lawmakers, saying in his London speech that “incremental change won’t cut it” and pledging to deliver more urgent action to tackle the country’s many problems.

His future will depend on whether his despondent party agrees to give him time to do so.

“Part of leadership is knowing when it is time to pass on the baton,” Labour lawmaker David Smith said in a statement following the speech.

“I therefore believe that now is the time for the prime minister to set a clear timetable for his departure.”

Political turmoil highlights challenges of governing Britain

The Labour Party has never removed one of its prime ministers in its more than 125-year history.

Under the party rules, it would take 20 per cent of the parliamentary party, or 81 lawmakers, to announce they were backing a single candidate to trigger a leadership challenge.

So far, none of those who are considered Mr Starmer's main potential rivals have moved against him.

One of the favourites to replace Mr Starmer, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, is not a Member of Parliament and cannot stand against him.

The threat to Mr Starmer's premiership, less than two years after his election victory, is the latest example of how Britain has become increasingly hard to govern.

If Mr Starmer is removed from office in the coming weeks, Britain will be on its seventh prime minister in the past decade, marking the highest level of political turnover in nearly two centuries.

Analysts point to several factors behind this trend, including relatively low economic growth since the 2007 to 2009 global financial crisis, strained public finances, particularly following large amounts of borrowing during the Covid-19 pandemic, and political polarisation after Brexit. REUTERS