RT-Engels: 20-06-2026,
Over 100 Labour MPs have called on Keir Starmer to resign as the embattled prime minister gears up for a challenge to his authority
The UK’s ruling Labour Party could plunge itself and the whole country into a “disaster,” MPs and political commentators are warning, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer stubbornly defying calls from within his own party to quit.
Labour’s leadership crisis came to a head this week when former Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham won Thursday’s Makerfield by-election, securing 55% of the vote. Now the party’s MPs expect him to challenge Starmer within weeks if not days, with many Labour Party members openly treating the prime minister as a lame duck and stating they want him gone.
Lord Charles Falconer, a Labour peer and a former justice secretary in Tony Blair’s government, weighed in on the issue on Saturday, stating that Starmer has “absolutely no authority.”
“The reason he’s got no authority is because everybody assumes that Andy Burnham is about to challenge for the leadership and everybody assumes he’s going to win,” he told BBC Radio 4, calling the present situation “completely unmaintainable for the country.” Falconer also urged the prime minister not to cling to power and enable a swift transition, arguing that any further delay would be “bad” for the country.
Labour MPs Zubir Ahmed and Peter Swallow also told BBC they wanted to see a new prime minister within weeks.