'It depends': Labour MPs tell LBC if Starmer will stay on as PM
Prominent Labour members tell Lewis Goodall if they think Sir Keir Starmer will lead the party into the next election.
Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure as he prepares to deliver his party conference speech, and Labour MPs have given LBC mixed messages about how they see his future.
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The prime minister has insisted he can “pull this around” on the eve of his keynote address to members in Liverpool.
Read also: Every Labour MP and minister to have left since Sir Keir Starmer won power
Labour has lost ground in polls to Reform and, although the next election might not be until 2029, party members are unsure if Sir Keir is the man to lead them into another campaign.
The PM is expected to use the speech to attack Nigel Farage’s party, telling crowds that Britain has a choice between “decency” and “division”.
It comes after some Labour frontbenchers went on record to label the right wing party’s migration plans as “racist”.
LBC’s Lewis Goodall has been asking prominent Labour members if they think Sir Keir should lead the party into the next election. Here are their replies:
Steve Rotheram: ‘It depends’
The Liverpool Mayor and former MP for the city has said it could go either way.
“It depends, and it depends on the progress we make. This has been a difficult period and any prime minister would have faced these difficult hurdles that the Labour government has had.
“We go into the campaign in 2029, if there is an election and we are miles behind then we have to reassess who would be best to lead us. At this moment in time, Keir Starmer should lead us into that election.”
Lucy Powell: ‘He should be focused on being the great PM I know he can be’
The challenger for deputy leader has backed Sir Keir but did so with what Lewis Goodall called a “backhanded compliment”.
“He should be 100 per cent focused on being the great prime minister I know he can be, and I want to support him in that. Of course he should be the leader going into the next election.
“I want him to be more successful and I want this government to be a better version of itself.”
John McDonnell: ‘He could stand down’
The former deputy leader of Labour has recently been allowed back into the fold but does not have total confidence that Sir Keir will fight the next election.
“I’ve worked with Keir Starmer. If we are in a situation like we are in now, he is a responsible person, and he will see that he is not doing the job well enough and he will stand down himself.”
Rosena Allin-Khan: ‘He has been advised by the wrong people’
Tooting MP Ms Allin-Khan has not painted a rosy picture of how things have been behind the scenes in Labour, but equally has not blamed the PM.
“I think he has potentially been advised by some of the wrong people. I think that the internal infighting about things like the winter fuel allowance, about the two-child benefit cap… Our party needs to be a broad church, and I think some of the polling that has been done recently has reflected that our members want to see that.”
Bridget Phillipson: ‘Starmer will turn it around’
Education secretary and deputy leader candidate Ms Phillipson gave a clear backing to her boss.
“Polls are a snapshot in time. We are a year and a bit into a Labour government, there have been ups and downs.
“I have every confidence that Sir Keir Starmer will turn it around.”
Steve Reed: ‘He picked the party off the floor’
Another show of support came from the housing secretary.
“After the Hartlepool by-election, I came out and I did the morning media round and people said Keir Starmer might not be the right person to take us into the general election.
“He then picked this party up off the floor and he won us a landslide victory. So, you're just going to get people saying that, particularly at a Labour Party conference. “Senior voices were saying the same thing after Hartlepool. We went on and we got a landslide.
“And that landslide, that majority in Parliament gives us an obligation now to make real the change that people voted for. And that's what we're doing with money in people's minds pockets, reforming our broken public services, securing our borders and bringing some more security the streets of this country.”
