Pressure mounts on British PM as Labour MP threatens leadership bid

A Labour Party former minister has set a deadline to gather support for a potential leadership challenge against UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, following a difficult set of local election results for the governing party, POLITICO reports.

Catherine West, a former Foreign Office minister, said she will move to trigger a leadership contest if Starmer does not signal a shift in direction during a speech scheduled for May 11, or if another Cabinet minister does not mount a challenge.

According to West, she will give Labour MPs until May 12 morning to decide whether to nominate her.

“If I feel it’s flat and it’s all the same … I will then write to all the PLP [Parliamentary Labour Party] with my email [at lunchtime] looking for support for my bid,” she said in comments to London Playbook.

West would need the backing of 81 MPs, representing 20 percent of the Parliamentary Labour Party, in order to formally initiate a leadership contest.

She said she wanted to impose a clear deadline to prevent the process from dragging on. “I want to give a deadline of Tuesday morning so it doesn’t go on and on, because sometimes these things fizzle out,” she said.

Any leadership challenge would complicate the ambitions of Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, who is not a Member of Parliament and therefore would be unable to stand in an immediate contest.

Other potential candidates are also being discussed within the party, including Health Secretary Wes Streeting and former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, both of whom are sitting MPs and would be eligible to run if a leadership contest is triggered.

West also left open the possibility of abandoning her challenge, depending on Starmer’s performance in the coming days.

“If suddenly [Starmer] gets the bit between his teeth and I can see some more fight, then things might change,” she said.

By Vafa Guliyeva