Speculation over the Prime Minister’s future has intensified over the weekend as Labour’s biggest union backer considers a historic split from the party, while the movement that helped elect him began canvassing members on possible successors.
Senior officials at Unite are in talks about whether to call an emergency conference to vote on formal disaffiliation from Labour, amid what sources describe as “intense frustration” with Sir Keir Starmer.
Some Labour MPs believe the union’s support can only be won back with a change of leader, with one saying the crisis would make it “very difficult” for Sir Keir to remain as leader.
Sharon Graham, the Unite general secretary, has long warned Labour over its direction, saying earlier this year that the Budget was “an absolutely critical point of us knowing whether direction is going to change”.
The union, Labour’s biggest financial donor, has also attacked the government for pursuing a “reckless” and “incompetent” North Sea strategy, which it said had already resulted in the loss of thousands of oil and gas jobs.
Successors
At the same time, Labour Together — the influential think tank that ran Sir Keir’s 2020 leadership campaign — has begun surveying members on who stands “the best chance of leading Labour to electoral victory at the next general election”.
The Times reports that the questionnaire lists eight senior Labour politicians alongside Sir Keir, including Wes Streeting, Angela Rayner, Andy Burnham and Ed Miliband, and asks activists to rank them across a series of hypothetical leadership contests.
Downing Street has insisted Sir Keir will fight any challenge, though the survey is likely to fuel further talk that the party is preparing for change.
With union support wavering and internal polling underway on alternative leaders, Labour insiders say the mood has shifted sharply — and Sir Keir Starmer’s future is now at its most precarious point since entering No 10.