Another Labour MP has broken ranks to call for embattled Sir Keir Starmer to quit. Labour backbencher Graham Stringer said the Prime Minister should set out a timetable for his exit to allow time for a new Labour leader to be chosen. He is the second Labour MP to publicly speak out after Jonathan Brash said nobody “reasonably expects” Sir Keir to lead Labour into the next election. The calls pile more pressure on the PM, who is clinging to power amid the Mandelson vetting scandal.
Mr Stringer, the MP for Blackley and Middleton South, told GB News: “I don’t think the Prime Minister can survive the rest of this Parliament. I think the decent thing for him to do is not to resign immediately because that would leave a huge hole in the middle of government. But he should announce a timetable for him going so the Labour Party could have a proper discussion and debate about what is best for the country, what is best for the Labour Party, and choose a leader accordingly.”
Mr Stringer said he was “extraordinarily disappointed” in Sir Keir’s government.
He added: “The chaos that was true of the last government is true of this government.
“There have been 18 U-turns, there’s nothing wrong with a U-turn if you make a mistake and you realise the mistake, but 18 mistakes that have needed rectifying is the of a government that doesn’t know what it is doing and a leadership that is not leading.”
His intervention comes after Mr Brash yesterday became the first Labour MP to explicitly call for Sir Keir to go.
The Hartlepool MP said: “I think it’s got to the point now where I genuinely think, as far as the Prime Minister is concerned, it’s not a case of if, it’s when, and I just think we need to get a handle on this.”
Mr Brash added: “Ultimately, we are in a situation where I don’t think anyone reasonable expects the Prime Minister to lead the party into the next election and I think we have to refocus this Government on the priorities of the British people.”
But Sir Keir hit out at opposition parties during a visit to Newcastle today when he was asked if he had considered resigning.
He said: “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.”