Two ministerial aides have resigned over the leadership of Keir Starmer, with growing calls inside the Labour Party for the UK prime minister to either step down immediately or announce a timetable for his departure. Over 70 Labour Members of Parliament,Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, have now openly demanded Starmer’s ouster.
Joe Morris resigned from his role as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Health Secretary Wes Streeting, saying the PM “no longer has the trust or confidence of the public.” Tom Rutland also quit as PPS to Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds, arguing that Starmer could not meet the political challenge posed by Reform UK.
Meanwhile, Sally Jameson, PPS to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, joined demands for Starmer to outline a timetable for stepping down.
The pressure follows disastrous election results for Labour, which lost nearly 1,500 councillors across England, suffered heavy setbacks to Reform UK and the Greens, lost power in Wales after a century of dominance, and returned only 17 seats in the Scottish Parliament, its worst-ever performance at Holyrood.
In a speech earlier, Starmer insisted he would not resign and said he would prove the “doubters” wrong, while admitting the government had made mistakes but arguing it had “got the big political choices right.”
Morris said Labour councillors and candidates “ended up taking the blame for decisions that were not theirs,” adding that voters no longer believed Starmer could deliver the change they backed. Rutland said hostility toward the prime minister was clear from voters on the doorstep and claimed Starmer had lost authority both within the Parliamentary Labour Party and across the country.
Full List of Labour MPs Calling for Keir Starmer to Resign
- Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood
- Clive Betts
- Sarah Owen
- Connor Naismith
- David Baines
- John McDonnell
- Ian Lavery
- Clive Lewis
- Jonathan Brash
- Louise Haigh
- Anneliese Midgley
- Simon Opher
- Richard Burgon
- Olivia Blake
- Paula Barker
- Ian Byrne
- Neil Duncan-Jordan
- Apsana Begum
- Chris Hinchcliff
- Kim Johnson
- Ruth Jones
- Andy McDonald
- Kate Osborne
- Jon Trickett
- Nadia Whittome
- Beccy Cooper
- Catheine West
- Tony Vaughan
- Barry Gardiner
- Abitsam Mohamed
- Josh Simons
- Irene Campbell
- Cat Eccles
- Anna Dixon
- Justin Madders
- Terry Jermy
- Imran Hussain
- Euan Stainbank
- Graham Stringer
- Rachael Maskell
- Debbie Abrahams
- Peter Lamb
- Brian Leishman
- Julia Buckley
- Paulette Hamilton
- Catherine McKinnell
- Navendu Mishra
- Bell Ribeiro-Addy
- Emma Lewell
- David Smith
- Chris Curtis
- Luke Myer
- Markus Campbell-Savours
- Alan Gemmell
- Fred Thomas
- Lorraine Beavers
- Jas Athwal
- Sarah Smith
- Jo Platt
- Tonia Antoniazzi
- Alex Ballinger
