Keir Starmer

One spectator sport this summer has been watching politicians try to tie their fortunes to the England team. Such efforts are as doomed to failure as, ultimately, Gareth Southgate’s team was.

He might seem to be unharmed by the scandals he presides over, but Boris Johnson’s position is more vulnerable than it looks. The fall will come, and it will be swift, brutal and comprehensive

The effective slow disenfranchisement of the white working-class vote is Labour’s biggest problem in the Batley and Spen by-election

The news that John Bercow was joining the Labour Party came as much a surprise to Sir Keir Starmer as everyone else.

Priti Patel has said she does not support England’s footballers taking the knee in protest against racial injustice, labelling the act “gesture politics”. The home secretary did not condemn football fans who had booed players for taking the knee, calling it a “choice for them” after Gareth Southgate’s side faced jeers from a minority of […]

Yvette Cooper is one of Labour’s most effective politicians, so could she one day replace Keir Starmer?

Boris Johnson has been ‘rattled’ by the evidence given by Dominic Cummings into his handling of the Covid-19 outbreak, Sir Keir Starmer has told MPs. Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir pointed out that Johnson denied the cabinet secretary told him to fire the health secretary for lying but had not denied the other claims put forward […]

Sir Keir Starmer should avoid turning Labour into a “Blairite tribute band”, former shadow chancellor John McDonnell has warned. He told BBC Two’s Newsnight the party should become more radical following setbacks in recent elections. McDonnell, who stood down from the shadow cabinet in 2019, claimed there was “disillusionment” with Labour, “particularly among younger people”. A […]

Keir Starmer is under pressure from within his own party to make electoral reform a manifesto commitment following four consecutive general election losses and the recent local election setbacks. The pressure comes after a recent Best for Britain poll had shown at least half of its respondents backed electoral reform to make the number of elected representatives […]

Keir Starmer has spoken for the first time about the tragedy of losing his mother before she was able to see him become an MP. Speaking to Piers Morgan for an upcoming episode of ITV’s Life Stories programme, the Labour leader revealed the pain of watching his mother Jo’s health deteriorate as he closed in […]

Losing the Batley and Spen by-election would mean “curtains” for Labour leader Keir Starmer, former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott has suggested. Abbott, an ally of left-wing former party leader Jeremy Corbyn, used an article in the Guardian to claim Starmer’s time at the top of the party could be over if he fails to […]

Keir Starmer is set to discuss his childhood, career in law and leading the Labour Party from his spare room in lockdown during an interview with Piers Morgan. The Labour leader will sit down with the broadcaster for an hour-long episode of Life Stories, due to be filmed next month and expected to air on […]

Greater Manchester mayor and former national Labour leadership candidate Andy Burnham says the party would not have lost so many seats in the last election had he defeated Jeremy Corbyn in the battle to become its leader in 2015. The claim came in an interview with the Observer, in which Burnham said he would run […]

Labour frontbencher Wes Streeting is to step back from politics while he undergoes treatment for kidney cancer. Streeting, 38, said the diagnosis had come as “an enormous shock” but the prognosis was good as the disease had been caught early. In a video message posted on his Twitter feed, the MP for Ilford North said […]

Earlier this year Keir Starmer called for a 1945 moment, but he has yet to outline what it involves. In June last year, Ed Miliband was asked on The Andrew Marr Show whether Keir Starmer was going to be a better leader of the Labour Party than he had been. “Definitely,” he responded, adding: “I […]

Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell has put down rumours he would be willing to join Sir Keir Starmer’s frontbench, but suggested Labour MPs who should be. McDonnell, who served on Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet until last year, told the LBC’s Iain Dale he backed Richard Burgon and Rebecca Long-Bailey, who was removed from Sir Keir’s top team after […]

In an open letter, editor-at-large ALASTAIR CAMPBELL – the man who helped mastermind Labour’s last spell in power – offers his constructive advice to Keir Starmer on how to revive his party’s fortunes Dear Keir, I hope you are bearing up despite all the brickbats. You are experiencing something every Labour leader has had to contend with… […]

Tony Blair has launched a scathing attack on the “woke left” and warned the Labour Party faced electoral oblivion if it did not start ‘cutting through’ to voters.   Blair, a former Labour prime minister, said May’s dismal election results showed the party needed a “total deconstruction and reconstruction. Nothing less will do.” Writing in the New Statesman, Blair […]

Shadow business secretary Ed Miliband has said the Labour Party had a mountain to climb and a “collective responsibility” to show what it stood for. Appearing on Radio 4’s Today programme, the former Labour leader said that Keir Starmer needed to be “bolder” and back proposals similar to US president Joe Biden’s proposals. Asked about […]

Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner has referred to her “very frank relationship” with Keir Starmer amid claims he tried to sack her from the shadow cabinet after the party’s damaging election losses. Rayner claimed she was appointed to her new roles because she wanted to be more “front-facing” in the reshuffled top team after she […]

Keir Starmer’s closest parliamentary aide has resigned as the fallout from Labour’s poor performance in local elections continues. Carolyn Harris, the leader’s parliamentary private secretary (PPS), said: “It has been the proudest moment of my career to co-chair the campaign that saw Keir Starmer elected as Labour leader, and to serve as his PPS for […]

Labour must stop talking down to voters, deputy leader Angela Rayner has said in the wake of the party’s damaging election losses. Rayner set out on Monday how Labour must change to reconnect with working class voters after the crushing defeat in the Hartlepool by-election. Her comments came after she was given greater authority within […]

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has suggested he would entertain becoming leader of the Labour Party “in the distant future”. Burnham was speaking to the media after being re-elected to office with a landslide level of support. Asked on Sky News whether he wanted to lead the party following reports he would be a […]

Keir Starmer has said he will do “whatever is necessary” to rebuild trust in Labour following its “bitterly disappointing” defeat in the Hartlepool by-election. After seeing another pillar in its once impregnable “red wall” fall to the Tories, the Labour leader told his party to “stop quarrelling among ourselves” and address the needs of the […]

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said that he will do “whatever it takes” to rebuild trust in the party following its “bitterly disappointing” by-election defeat in Hartlepool. Starmer has come under fire from all sides after Labour suffered a crushing defeat. In a stunning result, the Conservatives took the seat – which had been […]

Boris Johnson has described the early election results as “very encouraging” after hopes of a Labour revival were dealt a crushing blow when the Conservatives won the Hartlepool by-election. Speaking to reporters in Coventry, the prime minister said: “I know that the results have been coming in since this morning and there’s clearly a lot […]

Campaigning in the Hartlepool by-election, Sir Keir Starmer said repeatedly that Labour had a “mountain to climb” if it was to regain power. Now that the votes are in and counted, that task looks every bit as formidable as the party seeks to chart a route back to No 10. It is hard to see […]

Hopes of a Labour revival under Sir Keir Starmer have suffered a blow after the Conservative Party comfortably won the Hartlepool by-election. The Leave-supporting North East constituency went blue for the first time in its 47-year-old history, as Boris Johnson demolished another brick in Labour’s so-called “red wall”. Voters in the town backed Tory candidate […]