Starmer clings on after election disaster - The Latest
episodePreviously titled “Starmer clings on amid Labour deadlock - The Latest” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 2, 2026
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What immediate challenges does Keir Starmer face in Labour leadership?
This is The Guardian.
If Labour mess this up, then the chances are we have a Nigel Farage government.
I know that people are frustrated, and some people frustrated with me.
Keir Starmer promised a gesture, but it wasn't a holiday to the Maldives. It was like a £3.99 bunch of roses from the garage down the road. For a lot of Labour MPs, something needs to change. The question is what and when.
I know I have my doubters, and I know I need to prove them wrong, and I will.
this kind of whole game theory that a lot of what you do depends on what other people do. And it's very, very hard to predict, very fast moving. We're still in this deadlock, really.
Keir Starmer is feisting for his political survival as a make-or-break speech fails to calm mutinous MPs and calls Grow for him to go by September. From The Guardian's Today In Focus, this is The Latest with me, Lucy Hough. Well, I'm joined by Peter Walker, our senior political correspondent. Thanks for dialling in from Westminster, Peter, on a very dramatic and fast-moving day and a very dramatic weekend.
I've been dramatic today up to a point, as much as Keir Starmer manages drama, but yes.
Yes, yes, that's a fair point. But nonetheless, Labour sort of mopping up the catastrophe of the loss of nearly 1500 seats last week in the local elections. An unexpected leadership challenge yesterday from Labour MP Catherine West and then a make or break speech by the prime minister this morning in London. To the public, but predominantly, I think it's safe to say, to his MPs, effectively asking them not to sack him and to give him a little more time. Give us a rundown of the state of play. We're talking about half two on Monday.
To an extent, the state of play is largely where we were, you know, where we have been in the days since the elections, which weren't so bad for Labour on Thursday. Yeah. There are a lot of Labour MPs who are very, very, very peeved with the way things are going. More than peeved, really, they're incredibly worried about this idea that the elections, not just across English councils, to an extent in Scotland, but mainly in Wales, where Labour did really, really badly. They think it shows that Keir Starmer is not turning things around, that they're losing votes to reform on the right and the Greens on the left. And they have this really kind of dreadful worry, which Keir Starmer articulates in his speech to an extent, that if Labour messes this up, then the chances are we have a Nigel Farage government going into number 10 in a couple of years' time, or maybe three years' time.
And for a lot of Labour MPs, that worries them enormously. So if you speak to almost any of them, kind of, privately they will say something needs to change the question is what and when and to an extent we still are where we are that there's a smallish number of likely leadership contenders so west streeting the most obvious one angela rainer perhaps andy burnham if you can get back into parliament but no one has as yet fired the starting gun so you know we're still in this deadlock really
So for Keir Starmer, I mean, it was, I think it's safe to say, a heartfelt speech, you know, with his sleeves rolled up. He spoke a lot about his family, his working class roots. He spoke about, he took accountability for the losses of last week, full accountability, and promised a sort of new direction of travel. But for Labour MPs, the sort of sense that we're getting is it wasn't quite enough to win back hearts and minds. What are you hearing?
I mean, it was a decent speech in terms of Keir Starmer's speeches. It was a probably solid 8 out of 10. But the sense I got from Labour MPs is that they just wanted something more. They wanted something different. It's kind of like, I don't know, like a marriage is on the rocks and one partner keeps on getting things wrong and the other one is saying, God, make a massive gesture. And Keir Starmer promised a gesture, but it wasn't a holiday to the Maldives. It was like a 3.99 bunch of roses from the garage down the road.
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