One of Keir Starmer’s closest allies in the cabinet has conceded that the prime minister is “unpopular” but has insisted Labour should not repeat the same pattern of changing leaders that damaged the Conservatives.
The housing secretary, Steve Reed, one of Starmer’s most loyal ministers and staunch defenders, told broadcasters on Friday that no one had the numbers to challenge him and the party should come together behind the prime minister.
Starmer’s leadership is under intense pressure after the Labour MP Josh Simons announced he would stand aside to allow the Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, to attempt to return to parliament and challenge the prime minister.
Wes Streeting resigned as health secretary, while the former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner revealed that she had been cleared by HMRC of deliberate wrongdoing over her tax affairs, clearing the path for a potential tilt at the top job.
Speaking on Sky News, Reed admitted “the prime minister is unpopular”, adding: “But each of the last four prime ministers in turn have been the most unpopular prime minister we’ve ever had.”
He said: “What happens when you’re the leader of the government at a time when the public are so angry with the state of our public services and the economy, is it focuses down on that individual.
“So we can either copy the Tories, they doomscrolled through leader after leader – five, I think, in eight years, prime ministers. It didn’t help them one jot. What we need to do is all of us come together behind the prime minister and focus on how we can deliver the change the British public want to see faster.”
Reed said no leadership contest had been triggered and no individual had received the backing of the required 81 MPs to mount a challenge.
He urged Labour to stick to the “country first, party second” mantra that Starmer had repeated time and again during the general election campaign. He told Sky News: “Country first, party second was one of the most important things we said in that general election. Now at this very difficult moment, we have to make sure we stick to that.”
The senior cabinet minister earlier warned against triggering a leadership contest. “You don’t have to imagine what would happen, because we just have to look back at what the Conservatives did. I think over the eight years between 2016 and 2024 we had nine education secretaries, seven chancellors of the exchequer, and five prime ministers, and it led to their worst election result in 200 years.
“Last week we did badly. The Conservatives went further back from that dreadful general election result. Do we really want that to be our future?”
Reed pointed to recent figures that showed the UK’s GDP growth was the fastest in the G7 in the first quarter this year and that NHS waiting lists are falling as evidence of the government’s achievements.
Starmer has faced mounting calls to quit in the wake of Labour’s disastrous local election results last week, prompting speculation his critics within the cabinet were prepared to tell him it was time to resign.
While 89 MPs have so far publicly called for Starmer’s resignation, they are not united behind a single candidate to replace him.
