Keir Starmer on high pressure as four ministers resigns

Four ministers has quitted from the cabinet of leading by Keir Starmer what could be making pressure on the prime minister to hand over the premiership to responsible member of the party. Even, 80 MPs also are supporting ministers against Kier Starmer. However, Prime minister told earlier in the day that he would fight on as prime minister, saying the threshold for a leadership challenge had not been met.

Accorrding to The Quardian report that Jess Philips, a Home Office minister, is known to be a close ally of the health secretary, Wes Streeting. “I think you are a good man fundamentally, who cares about the right things, however I have seen first-hand how that is not enough,” Phillips said in her resignation letter.

“The desire not to have an argument means we rarely make an argument, leaving opportunities for progress stalled and delayed.”

Zubir Ahmed, a health minister, and Alex Davies-Jones, the minister for victims and tackling violence against women and girls, resigned shortly after Phillips. The communities minister Miatta Fahnbulleh was the first minister to resign from Starmer’s government, calling on him to quit.

Fahnbulleh, who is close to the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, said she would “urge the prime minister to do the right thing for the country and the party and set a timetable for an orderly transition”. The MP for Peckham said the message on the doorsteps at local elections was that the prime minister had “lost the trust and the confidence of the public”.

Phillips said she had several examples of where the government had failed to grasp the moment. “Over a year ago I presented solutions, long worked on by brilliant civil servants, that would end the ability for children in the UK to take naked images of themselves. Ninety-one per cent of online child sex abuse is self-generated by children groomed, tricked and exploited in to abuse.

“We could stop this abuse. It has taken me a year to get you to agree to even threaten to legislate in this space. Not legislate, just threaten. This is the definition of incremental change. Nothing bold about it. The announcement was meant to be in March.”

Davies-Jones wrote in her resignation letter: “The scale of the electoral defeats at the Senedd Cymru and across the United Kingdom have been catastrophic. The country has spoken and we must listen.

“We waited 14 years to get into power and change the lives of those we represent. The time now is for bold, radical action. I implore you to act in the country’s interest and set out a timetable for your departure.”

Ahmed also resigned on Tuesday afternoon, citing a “lack of values-driven leadership” and saying the public had “irretrievably lost confidence in you as prime minister”.

More than 80 Labour MPs have publicly called for Starmer to stand down after dire local and devolved election results across England, Wales and Scotland last week.

However, several ministers rallied round Starmer publicly after a meeting of the Cabinet. The work and pensions secretary, Pat McFadden, said nobody had challenged Starmer in the meeting and that the government should “carry on” with its business.

The technology secretary, Liz Kendall, told reporters in Downing Street: “This government will do what we were elected to do, which is serve the British people. The prime minister has my full support in this.”

The Guardian understands that four senior cabinet ministers – Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary; Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary; John Healey, the defence secretary: and the deputy prime minister, David Lammy – were among those who spoke to Starmer on Monday.

Some told the prime minister he should oversee an orderly transition of power after the crushing election defeats risked ringing the death knell on his premiership.

Others discussed with Starmer how they should take a “responsible, dignified, orderly” approach to what may follow. Several others, including Richard Hermer and Steve Reed, urged him to fight on.

More than 80 Labour MPs have publicly called for Starmer to stand down after dire local and devolved election results across England, Wales and Scotland last week.

However, several ministers rallied round Starmer publicly after a meeting of the Cabinet. The work and pensions secretary, Pat McFadden, said nobody had challenged Starmer in the meeting and that the government should “carry on” with its business.

The technology secretary, Liz Kendall, told reporters in Downing Street: “This government will do what we were elected to do, which is serve the British people. The prime minister has my full support in this.”

Source_ The Quardian UK