UK PM Starmer says his government is a 10-year project, vows to fight on despite calls to quit
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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he would lead his Labour Party into the next general election and serve a full second term.
PHOTO: REUTERS
LONDON - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed to fight on and said his government was a “10-year project” despite calls to quit after his party’s drubbing in local elections earlier this week.
Mr Starmer’s Labour Party on May 7 recorded the worst losses of a governing party in local elections in more than three decades, prompting a growing number of lawmakers to call for his removal.
A former minister in his government said she would seek the backing of other lawmakers to trigger a leadership contest unless his Cabinet took steps to remove him by May 11.
Asked by the Observer newspaper in an interview published on May 10 whether he would lead his Labour Party into the next general election and serve a full second term, Mr Starmer responded: “Yes, I will.”
He added: “I'm not going to walk away from the job I was elected to do in July 2024. I’m not going to plunge the country into chaos.”
If Mr Starmer is removed in the coming weeks, Britain would end up with its seventh prime minister in the past decade.
‘A real kicking’
So far, Mr Starmer’s Cabinet has stayed loyal to him despite the election losses.
Ms Bridget Phillipson, the education minister, said she was confident the Prime Minister could turn things around, telling Sky News on May 10 that Mr Starmer would set out a “fresh direction” for Britain in a speech the following day.
“We got a real kicking from the voters, there’s no escaping that,” she said of Labour’s performance in the elections. “We have to reflect seriously on that.”
Ms Catherine West, who served as a junior foreign minister until Mr Starmer sacked her in 2025, said she would listen to his speech on May 11 before making a final decision about whether to seek the backing of the 81 MPs needed to trigger a leadership contest.
Asked on May 10 if she was likely to get the numbers, Ms West told the BBC: “We will find out.”
Mr Starmer must call Britain’s next national election by 2029 at the latest.
If he were still in office at the end of a second five-year term, he would be the third-longest-serving continuous leader in Britain in the last two centuries after Mrs Margaret Thatcher and Mr Tony Blair. REUTERS