Pressure mounts on Starmer to resign as British PM
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You're listening to the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.
Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. We're recording this in the early hours of Tuesday the 12th of May. The British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is under mounting pressure to resign.
Why is Keir Starmer facing pressure to resign as British PM?
Iran says it's ready to respond to any aggression after President Trump said the ceasefire was on life support. And scientists say whales are in danger because of an increase in ships off South Africa, triggered by conflicts in the Middle East. Also in this podcast...
It was dangerous to go to the market, even for one kilo of rice. You can be arrested, killed, raped, harassed, beaten, humiliated. So people would rather starve, not go out.
How life is slowly returning to Sudan's capital Khartoum after the city was battered in the civil war. It's been a difficult few days for the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, and it could be about to get worse. After a damaging set of results from local elections last week, dozens of MPs in his Labour Party, including a number from his Cabinet, publicly called on him to resign or set out a timetable for his departure. One of them, Jonathan Hinder, told the BBC that the Prime Minister's speech on Monday, which was seen as a last-ditch attempt to save his premiership, had been tone-deaf. It's time to be real. He's going, no doubt about it. If you look at those results last week, we're being swept away in our heartlands.
And to come out in response to that and start talking about Brexit and having free movement again, for that to be the focus, when you're fighting for your life as the Prime Minister, it was absurd. I heard more from our political correspondent, Rob Watson. Well, we see it to be at another moment of peak drama in British politics, Oliver. And the day had started with Keir Starmer hoping that a speech that he was giving would somehow stop the drip, drip, drip of MPs urging him to consider his position. That did not happen. And indeed, as the day went on, things seemed to get even worse. And the day concluded... with the BBC understanding that several senior ministers, cabinet ministers, had said to the Prime Minister, look, the game is up, you seriously need to consider resigning.
So a very, very bad day indeed for the Prime Minister, leaving his grip on power, the Prime Ministership and the leadership of the party slipping away. So he is still currently in place, but what might happen in the coming hours on Tuesday? It could be the moment this drama concludes one way or another because the Cabinet are meeting, that's the senior ministers, and we understand at the BBC there is a split in the Cabinet. So some have said to him, you need to consider your position. Others take the view that the last thing that Britain needs is another leadership contest after having seen the Conservatives change leadership five times while they were in power. So there is a movement against it.
And I guess what we'll be looking out for is how does that resolve? I mean, do the Cabinet decide in the end that they will get round Keir Starmer? At the moment, things look truly perilous for him because can a prime minister really survive when he's lost that much support? I mean, it does seem very unlikely and it seems that his time in office is drawing to an end. It's only a couple of years since he and the Labour Party won an impressive landslide victory, taking them to power. Where's it all gone wrong? I think the first thing to say, Oliver, that it was a loveless landslide. I mean, it was absolutely whopping, one of the biggest since the Second World War, but it was much more a vote against 14 years of government than it was for Keir Starmer and the Labour Party.
But I think it's gone wrong in two ways. One is just an extraordinary animus of the British people towards Keir Starmer. I mean, I think it's quite hard to explain why, but the voters just really don't like him. The second issue is that the voters feel that they were promised change at that election in 2024.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–1:09
2
Why is Keir Starmer facing pressure to resign as British PM?
1:09–7:16
3
What are Iran's responses to recent aggression and ceasefire challenges?
7:16–7:39
4
How is increased ship traffic off South Africa affecting whale populations?
7:39–9:59
5
What is the current situation in Sudan's capital Khartoum after the civil war?
9:59–30:54