Keir Starmer being pushed out of Downing Street by Nigel Farage not 'Reform voter whisperer' Andy Burnham, says Labour peer
Around 100 Labour MPs have called on Sir Keir to resign, amid the expectation that he will be replaced as leader of the Labour Party by newly elected MP for Makerfield, Andy Burnham
Sir Keir Starmer isn't being pushed out of Number 10 by Andy Burnham, but by a fear amongst the Labour Party of Nigel Farage and Reform, a Labour peer has told LBC.
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As the debate rumbles on about whether the Prime Minister should step down from his role, Baroness Harriet Harman told Sunday with Lewis Goodall that Sir Keir is not the person to "coalesce the anti-Reform voter coalition".
Around 100 Labour MPs have called on Sir Keir to resign, amid the expectation that he will be replaced as leader of the Labour Party by newly elected MP for Makerfield Andy Burnham, who is expected to launch a leadership challenge against the Prime Minister.
Reform's candidate Rob Kenyon faced a bitter defeat by the former Mayor of Greater Manchester in Thursday's by-election, in what has led Baroness Harman to call Mr Burnham the "Reform voter whisperer".
Read more: Starmer faces ultimatum: Quit by Tuesday or be humiliated
She told LBC: "What has gripped the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) from the left, right through the centre to the right, is a fear of Reform.
"And in a way, it's not Andy Burnham that is pushing Keir Starmer out of Number 10, it's Nigel Farage.
"What Andy Burnham has now shown himself to be is a Reform voter whisperer.
"He's been able to bring together the coalition of anti-Reform voters, and I think clearly there isn't a majority for Reform, but what there needs to be is a Labour leader who can coalesce that majority.
"And I think the PLP believe, after Gorton, after Caerphilly, that Keir Starmer is not the person to coalesce the anti-Reform voter coalition."
The peer went on to draw a comparison to Labour's position when the party was elected to power under Tony Blair in 1997.
Labour had a "grace period" where they were able to make "loads of mistakes" because voters had "rejected" the opposition at the time.
The same was true for David Cameron in 2010, Baroness Harman said, in that "nobody wanted to hear" from Labour and the party wasn't a "credible political force".
She said: "I think that what he's done is absolutely remarkable.
"He's taken the Labour Party from the absolute wilderness of opposition into government and has done a great many good things which represent Labour values, which are in the national interest since he's been in government.
"But I think he's faced a difficulty that other prime ministers coming into government from opposition have never faced, and that is an unvanquished opposition.
"What's happened with Keir Starmer is that although the Tories are vanquished, Reform is an unvanquished opposition and he's had no period of grace to get into the position of being Prime Minister, which is incredibly challenging in very, very challenging times, without this insurgent force of Reform.
