Analysis: Keir Starmer's Allies Have Just Made His Downfall Even More Certain

It must have seemed like a good idea at the time.

Sources close to Keir Starmer briefed journalists that the prime minister was aware of rumours about a challenge to his leadership, but would fight anyone who tried to remove him from No.10.

They also let it be known that, in their view, health secretary Wes Streeting was the chief plotter working behind the scenes to hasten the PM’s demise.

Within minutes of the story appearing on Tuesday evening, Labour MPs’ WhatsApps were ablaze with a mixture of fury and bemusement.

Why did Downing Street believe it was a good idea to openly admit that Starmer’s leadership is under threat, they wondered.

Others pointed out that by pointing the finger at Streeting, they had kicked off an entirely needless cabinet civil war.

One MP said: “The briefing that Keir will fight on despite only having the support of a couple of ministers and a few people who’d sell their soul for a red box, without any regard for the future of the Labour Party or the electoral prospects of colleagues, just shows how divorced from reality they are.”

A senior Labour source said: “They’ve all completely lost their heads – fighting like they’re a minor faction in an opposition party rather than the government.”

On Sky News this morning, Streeting seized the opportunity presented to him by Starmer’s advisers to present himself as a loyal minister, while also presenting himself as the victim of a No.10 “kneecapping”.

He said: “It’s totally self-defeating briefing, not least because it’s not true, and I don’t understand why anyone thinks it’s helpful to the prime minister either to suggest he’s fighting for his job at a time when ... he’s fighting for the country and trying to turn it around from the absolute mess that we inherited.”

One government aide told HuffPost UK: “No.10 have shot themselves in the foot and managed to make Wes look even better. More people will now want him as leader.”

To be fair to No.10, Starmer’s future has been the topic of debate among Labour MPs for months, the only question being whether he will be challenged after the Budget or next May’s elections.

But by bringing it out into the open, the PM’s allies – including his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney – handed Kemi Badenoch a pre-PMQs open goal which even she could not miss.

Starmer “has lost control of his government, he’s lost the confidence of his party and lost the trust of the British people”, she said.

After the PM said the attacks on Streeting were not done with his approval, Badenoch said: “That means he’s lost control of Number 10, because that’s where they’re coming from.

“The real scandal is that two weeks from a budget, the government has descended into a civil war, instead of fixing the mess they’ve made of the economy.”

Starmer rather lamely insisted that he was leading a “united team”, but that only led to glum faces among the Labour MPs behind him and roars of laughter from the Tory benches.

One Labour adviser said: “Morgan McSweeney has made Kemi Badenoch good at PMQs. Unforgivable.”

The smart money remains on a badly-wounded Starmer remaining in post until May, after which he will face a leadership challenge.

But in trying to make their boss seem strong, his aides have only succeeded in highlighting his fundamental weakness, meaning his chances of surviving such a coup have all-but vanished.