The BRICS TimesBritain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer is fighting the battle of his political life. Ministers are walking out, MPs are demanding his head, and voters are fleeing in every direction. Here is how a landslide election winner turned into a leader teetering on the edge of collapse and what comes next for the UK.
From Landslide Victor to Political Liability, How Did It Come to This?
Just two years ago, Keir Starmer led Britain’s Labour Party to its biggest election win in a generation. He swept into 10 Downing Street in 2024, ending 14 bruising years of Conservative rule arriving with a 172-seat majority and a wave of national goodwill. Today, that goodwill feels like a distant memory.
Starmer now holds the grim distinction of being Britain’s least popular sitting prime minister on record. His net approval rating has crashed to −57, a number previously matched only by Liz Truss who lasted just 45 days in office. By January 2026, three out of four British voters held an unfavourable view of him. Something had gone very wrong, very fast.
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The Local Elections That Lit the Fuse
The immediate trigger for today’s crisis was the May 2026 local elections and the results were nothing short of catastrophic for Labour. The party lost control of more than 30 councils across England. Around 1,500 Labour councillors were swept out of office. Even more telling, voters did not just drift away they bolted in two completely opposite directions.
On the right, the hard-edged, anti-immigration Reform UK, led by the ever-combative Nigel Farage, made stunning gains picking up 1,454 council seats across England. On the left, the Greens surged, hoovering up progressive voters disgusted by Labour’s record. The BBC’s projected national vote share suggested Labour would receive just 17% if the elections had been held nationwide barely half of what the party won in 2024.
Green Party leader Zack Polanski did not hold back: “Keir Starmer was voted in on a promise of change. What we’ve seen is very little change and in many ways things have got worse.”
The Left Versus Right Dilemma Starmer Cannot Escape
Starmer’s critics argue his government has no coherent identity and that is precisely why it is bleeding from both sides. Working-class voters in post-industrial towns are turning to Reform UK, frustrated by the government’s failure to tackle illegal immigration and unhappy with welfare cuts that squeezed already-stretched households. Meanwhile, progressive and younger voters many energised by the Gaza conflict and climate policy are moving to the Greens or sitting on their hands entirely.
Starmer’s handling of Gaza proved particularly damaging. He initially refused to call for a ceasefire in late 2023, even publicly affirming Israel’s right to cut off power and water in the strip. He eventually reversed course, backing a ceasefire and a two-state solution but the damage with Muslim communities and left-wing voters was lasting. His government later listed Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation and arrested thousands of protesters, deepening the rift with a key slice of Labour’s traditional base.
Meanwhile, the decision to slash the winter fuel allowance for pensioners in the middle of an ongoing cost-of-living crisis triggered public fury. Even Starmer’s own MPs recoiled at the move. A series of embarrassing U-turns that followed made the government look not just unpopular, but weak and directionless.
The Resignation Avalanche
The political earthquake of the local elections set off a ministerial exodus unlike anything seen in modern Labour history. By mid-May 2026, four junior ministers had resigned including Jess Phillips, the home office safeguarding minister, who said she was “not seeing the change I think I and the country expect.”
Miatta Fahnbulleh, who resigned as junior minister for devolution, said Starmer had “lost the trust and confidence of the public.” Dr Zubir Ahmed, a fourth minister to go, cited a “lack of values-driven leadership.”
Multiple parliamentary aides followed including aides to Wes Streeting, Ed Miliband, David Lammy, and Shabana Mahmood sending an unmistakable signal that the rot had reached deep inside government. In total, 97 Labour MPs either called openly for Starmer’s resignation or demanded he set out a timetable for departure.
Cabinet Splits and the Defiant PM
Behind closed doors, the cabinet itself fractured. Reports from The Telegraph suggested six cabinet ministers including Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood privately told Starmer to go. Mahmood, one of the most senior voices in government, emerged as particularly prominent in those demands.
Starmer refused to buckle. At a cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning, he told his ministers: “The country expects us to get on with governing. That is what I am doing and what we must do.” He argued no formal leadership challenge had been triggered and that Labour had never ousted a sitting prime minister. The party’s rules require 81 MPs a fifth of Labour’s parliamentary strength to back a named challenger before a leadership contest can begin.
Several loyalists backed him publicly. Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Pat McFadden told reporters: “No one challenged” the prime minister at the meeting, and “there were many messages of support.” Technology Secretary Liz Kendall added: “There’s a process to challenge the leader. No one has made that challenge.”
On Monday, Starmer had given a speech attempting to reset his leadership taking responsibility for the election losses, promising to focus on national security, immigration, and closer ties with Europe. He described Labour as “a mainstream party of power, not protest” and warned of the “chaos” that engulfed Britain under Conservatives who changed leaders twice in two years.
“What we witnessed with the last government was the chaos of constantly changing leaders, and it cost this country a huge amount,” Starmer said. “A Labour government would never be forgiven for inflicting that on our country again.”
Eurasia Group analysts were unconvinced: “Starmer’s attempt to quell a rebellion against his leadership has failed.”
The Mandelson Shadow
One scandal that left a lasting stain on Starmer’s credibility was his appointment of Peter Mandelson the veteran Labour figure as British Ambassador to the United States in December 2024. Mandelson was later fired after his associations with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein became public. Starmer told parliament that Mandelson had “lied repeatedly” during vetting about his long-term relationship with Epstein.
The fallout was severe Starmer’s Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney resigned. His Communications Director Tim Allan followed the next day. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar called publicly for Starmer to quit. Borrowing costs rose sharply on financial markets, as investors fretted about the political uncertainty.
Who Could Replace Him?
With Starmer’s hold on power weakening by the day, attention has quickly shifted to potential successors each with their own complications.
Wes Streeting the Health Secretary is seen as the moderate frontrunner. He is praised as an effective communicator, but his ties to Peter Mandelson and ongoing investigations have made him a complicated choice. He eventually resigned his cabinet role, criticising Starmer in his resignation letter but did not launch a formal leadership challenge.
Angela Rayner the former Deputy Prime Minister is more popular with Labour’s membership and ranks well in polls. Her left-leaning credentials and working-class background give her broad appeal within the party. She was forced to resign in September 2025 over an under-payment of stamp duty on a flat but has since been cleared of deliberate wrongdoing by HMRC, reviving her prospects.
Andy Burnham Mayor of Greater Manchester consistently polls as the most popular option among Labour voters. However, he is not currently an MP. Starmer’s own party blocked his candidacy in a recent by-election a decision Rayner has since called “a mistake.” Burnham has now announced he intends to run in the upcoming Makerfield by-election to return to parliament.
Labour has never formally removed a sitting prime minister a tradition that makes this crisis doubly uncomfortable. If Starmer were ousted, he would become Britain’s sixth prime minister in just seven years.
Markets Rattled, Country Watching
The political storm has rattled financial markets too. UK government borrowing costs surged to their highest levels since 2008 as investors worried a left-leaning successor might loosen fiscal policy and pile on public debt. The pound weakened and gilt yields spiked a tangible sign that political instability in Westminster carries real-world economic consequences.
Over 110 Labour backbenchers signed a separate letter warning against a leadership contest, arguing that internal warfare would only hand ammunition to Reform UK and further damage Labour’s electoral standing.
Whether Keir Starmer survives or becomes the latest casualty in Britain’s turbulent political era the deeper crisis of a party losing voters to both its left and its right remains unresolved. That is the dilemma no change of leader, by itself, can fix.
Mayur Mohta
Pratik Agrawal
Akshay Didwaniya
Aditya Didwaniya
