Exclusive:Scots Labour MPs warn against quick Keir Starmer leadership challenge
Euan Stainbank, Irene Campbell and Brian Leishman have warned against replacing the Prime Minister quickly.
Scottish Labour MPs have told colleagues it would be too soon to back a leadership challenge against Sir Keir Starmer this week.
Their comments came as former Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner called on the Prime Minister to “set out the change our country needs” as she warned the party is facing its “last chance” after a disastrous set of election results.
Ms Rayner, widely seen as a potential successor to Sir Keir, stopped short of calling for him to quit but set out a series of steps he needed to take to win back working-class voters.
Falkirk MP Euan Stainbank called for a “process” to allow Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham to stand, while North Ayrshire and Arran MP Irene Campbell wants a “full and democratic contest”.
Brian Leishman warned against a “coronation” saying who replaces Sir Keir “must be up to party members”.
The Prime Minister is facing a leadership bid from former minister Catherine West after the results for Holyrood, the Senedd and English local councils last week.
Ms West intends to seek nominations on Monday but has made clear her campaign is an attempt to force the Cabinet to get behind a candidate to move against Sir Keir rather than a real attempt to become prime minister herself.
She said that there does not “necessarily” need to be leadership a contest and that the cabinet could decide on a “reshuffle” instead.
Ms Rayner and Health Secretary Wes Streeting are expected to be the main contenders to replace Sir Keir if he does step down.
But Greater Manchester Mayor Mr Burnham would need to win a by-election to become an MP and stand for the leadership. He was blocked from being the Labour candidate inthe Gorton and Denton by-election earlier this year.
Mr Stainbank told The Scotsman: “There needs to be a process so they can get the best guy for the job on the pitch.
“Andy Burnham is the best candidate for prime minister.”
“I think we should have time to fully consider what happened, why etc and then look at a full and democratic contest allowing for candidates to come forward.”
Alloa and Grangemouth MP Mr Leishman said: “I have been clear and consistent in saying that Keir Starmer should resign. The disastrous results of the last few days in Scotland, Wales and England and the direction the party has taken under his leadership are immensely frustrating.
“He should resign, nominations for leader made and it should be up to the Labour Party membership to decide on who should be the next leader.
“It must be up to the party members, there should be no coronation.”
Sir Keir will set out a “fresh direction” in a speech on Monday as he battles to save his job.
As well as Monday’s speech, the King’s Speech on Wednesday setting out the Government’s priorities will form part of an attempt by Sir Keir to reset his leadership after Labour was hammered at the ballot box.
It comes after Labour had a poor result in Scotland, lost power in Wales for the first time and lost nearly 1,500 English councillors last week.
Ms West told LBC on Sunday: “Tomorrow he’s going to make a speech and if I am unconvinced that the party machinery is going to act, then I will have to ask parliamentary colleagues by email for their names.
“I’ve had plenty of informal support, but I actually don’t want this to happen.
“What I want is for the Cabinet to get into a room this afternoon or at some point tonight and say to Keir Starmer: ‘We’ve got a role for you.’
“Then we wouldn’t need to have a leadership election.
“We could just have an agreement amongst our top team that we will put in somebody else to lead the party.
“And Keir could perhaps do something in international affairs. He’s very able.”
When it was put to her that there would have to be a leadership election, Ms West said: “Well, not necessarily.
“Because the cabinet could agree to have an internal reshuffle.”
Sir Keir has said he won’t walk away - and has even said he hopes to remain in power until 2034.
Asked if he would lead Labour at the next election and serve a full term of up to five years, he told the Sunday Mirror: “Yes I will, and I’ve always said it’s a decade of national renewal, where the legacy we inherited was an appalling legacy on all fronts, not just the economy, which was broken.”
Sir Keir is facing problems on both sides of the political spectrum. Last week he was hit by Nigel Farage’s Reform UK winning what had been solidly Labour councils across the north of England.
Zack Polanski’s Green Party won well in more urban areas, taking control of some London local authorities.
On top of this the party had its worst ever Scottish Parliament result, coming joint second with Reform UK on just 17 MSPs.
But Sir Keir told the Observer: “I have a strong belief that there aren’t many people who actually want Zack Polanski or Nigel Farage as prime minister.
“I think that the mainstream majority actually want to know that we, the Government, have progressive answers to the challenges that they face on a daily basis, and we need to spell out in terms and with conviction that we do have those progressive answers.”
In a further blow, former loyalist Josh Simons called for Sir Keir to quit, saying he had “lost the country”.
The Makerfield MP - who was a minister until March - wrote in the Times: “Putting the people I represent and the country I love first, I do not believe the Prime Minister can rise to this moment.
“He has lost the country.
“He should take control of the situation by overseeing an orderly transition to a new prime minister.”
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar - who has also pledged to go on despite Thursday’s damaging results - refused to be drawn into whether there should be a leadership contest.
He called for the PM to resign months ago and blamed his party’s loss on a “national wave”.
Mr Sarwar told the BBC: “It’s up to Catherine West and other people...”
When asked what his MPs thought, the Scottish Labour leader said: “I know my Scottish Labour MPs are hurting just as much as our MSPs are, as much as our candidates are, and I know they, too, are thinking about what the consequence of this means.”
When asked if he still believed Sir Keir should go, Mr Sarwar said: “I’m trying to understand why you’re obsessed with Keir Starmer and the UK Government.”
Ms Rayner said it had been a mistake to block Mr Burnham’s possible return to Westminster, saying Labour needs to bring its “best players into Parliament”.
In a 1,000-word assessment of what Labour needs to do, she said: “What we are doing isn’t working, and it needs to change. This may be our last chance.”
She added: “Policy tweaks will not fix the fundamental challenges facing our country. This Government needs, at pace, to put measures in place that make people’s lives tangibly better, while fixing the foundations of a system rigged against them.
“The Prime Minister must now meet the moment and set out the change our country needs.
“Change our economic agenda to prioritise making people better off, change how we run our party so that all voices are listened to, and change how we do politics.
“Labour exists to make working people better off. That is not happening fast enough, and it needs to change – now.”
Ms Rayner quit as deputy leader and deputy prime minister last September after failing to pay the correct tax on a flat in Hove.
In her statement on Sunday she was critical of some decisions made while she was in the Government: “The Peter Mandelson scandal showed a toxic culture of cronyism.
“Decisions like cutting winter fuel allowance just weren’t what people expected from a Labour government.”
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