‘Completely barmy’ to get rid of Keir Starmer, Labour grandee warns MPs

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The Prime Minister's judgement has come under intense scrutiny in wake of revelations last week that Peter Mandelson failed security checks before he was appointed US ambassador, with Starmer unaware until last week.

On Thursday, Alan Johnson defended the PM on Tonight with Andrew Marr saying he "struggles to understand" why Keir Starmer is thought to be in such trouble.

"The only people who can get rid of the Prime Minister are Labour MPs, and unless they've gone completely barmy, they'll keep him in place.

He explained that issues such as borrowing, net immigration and inflation are down.

The Labour grandee went on: "Energy prices are down, wages are up, we're getting closer to Europe. We've got free childcare, we've got all these things are happening.

"Why would Labour MPs?"

He added that if his two rivals were in charge of this country, either Kemi Badenoch or Nigel Farage, we would be "alongside America now in the adventure that Trump has embarked on in the Middle East".

When asked by Marr if there was anyone inside the Labour Party who would make a better Prime Minister, Mr Johnson replied: "No. It's going to be much more difficult and that's why Labour MPs would be particularly barmy.

"Incidentally, I don't think they're going to do this. There's obviously one of or two voices that will always crop up, but the vast majority of them know they wouldn't be in Parliament if it wasn't for Keir Starmer," he went on.

The former Chancellor added that it took "a lot" to bring the Labour Party to come back from our second worst defeat to our second best victory in just five years.

"So I don't think there's any appetite in Parliament and there's no obvious successor.

"Wes Streeting is a good guy. These are all good people. But Wes is going to struggle to hold onto his seat.

"Angela Rayner is not cleared yet by HMRC.

"Whoever replaces Keir Starmer, do you really think that the pressure's gonna be off? Well, you've got a guy who can obviously take the pressure."

This week, there been reports of a split within the Cabinet over the Prime Minister's decision to sack top Foreign Office chief Sir Olly Robbins last week, after it transpired his department had granted the peer security clearance for mandelson's role in January 2025, despite concerns raised in the vetting process.

Asked if he had considered quitting, the Prime Minister hit back that his critics were "opposed politically" to the government.

He told broadcasters in Newcastle earlier today: "I think it's very important to see what's going on here.

"Last week, my political opponents were saying that there's no way a civil servant wouldn't have told me about the outcome of a developed vetting security exercise.

"Turns out my political opponents were completely wrong about that.

"Then they said that I was dishonest. It turns out they were completely wrong about that. They are now putting any allegation they can and I will tell you for why - they are opposed politically to what this Government is trying to achieve."