Political heavyweight Michael Gove has said who he believes will be Sir Keir Starmer’s biggest threat as the beleaguered Prime Minister vies to keep the top job – and surprisingly the former minister says the PM’s key foe isn’t Nigel Farage. Proverbial sharks have been circling Sir Keir in Westminster after Labour’s ratings have plummeted in the polls fuelled by, among other things, U-turns from his hapless Chancellor Rachel Reeves, a sluggish economy, the cost of living crisis and a failure to tackle illegal migrants crossing the Channel.
Reform UK on the other hand have been soaring in the ratings. The party had already secured second place in more than 90 seats at the last general election and claimed 14.3% of the vote. Now just over 18 months later, Nigel Farage‘s new kids on the block top most opinion polls ahead of Labour, and the Conservatives, and control a host of local councils, as well as having five MPs in the House of Commons.
And Mr Farage was furious this week at Labour’s decision to postpone mayoral elections, many of which Reform UK said it had a good chance of winning, in Essex, Hampshire and the Solent, Sussex and Brighton, and Norfolk and Suffolk until 2028. At a press conference on Wednesday he described the move as the action of “despots, not democrats” and critics have argued Sir Keir has pushed back the votes because of his own precarious position in Downing Street. A spokesperson for Number 10 denied this and said plans to push the votes – originally due next year – would allow more time for reorganisation of local authorities under its devolution agenda.
And it’s not only from other political parties where Sir Keir has faced a challenge. Within Labour itself, the Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and the Health Secretary Wes Streeting have both been tipped as potential successors.
Veteran Conservative Lord Michael Gove is himself no stranger to an et tu brute moment when it comes to political rivals having famously face-off against Boris Johnson in the past. Now a peer in the House of Lords, Lord Gove is very knowledgeable about the Machivallian machinations of a leadership challenge.
He told the Daily Mail that he believed it would not be Mr Streeting and Mr Burnham who would prove the most likely to unseat the PM. It’s was reported this week Mr Streeting hopes to woe Angela Rayner into a pact to seize the top job, but Lord Gove said: “I think that Wes Streeting is mistaken if he thinks that Angela Rayner is going to play essentially the role of political girlfriend to his ambitions because I actually think that Angela Rayner is in a better position than Wes Streeting to win any leadership election.
“The idea that just because she’s had the difficulties she did over tax that she is going to meekly accept Wes Streeting as her route back to respectability – I don’t think she will accept.|
Lord Gove ruled out former Labour party leader turned Net Zero zealot Ed Milliband from any chance of succeeding Sir Keir. Mr Milliband has come under fire from wide-ranging criticism of the eco-energy policy paving over farmland with solar power plants and Britain having the highest electricity prices in Europe.
Responding to reports in the Telegraph that he and Ms Rayner were involved in a pact to supplant Sir Keir, a spokesperson for Mr Streeting said: “This is a silly season story and completely untrue. People appear to be getting carried away and misinterpreting his support for Angela as something other than supporting a good person going through a difficult time.”
A source close to Ms Rayner, when asked to respond to claims the pact would allow her to have “any Cabinet job she chooses”, said: “There is no vacancy and there is no pact. Amidst all the stirring and silly games, Angela is focused on representing her constituents and ensuring that this Government delivers. Angela is made of tough stuff and she will not be played like a pawn.”