Current News

/

ArcaMax

Starmer seeks to heal Labour rift after surviving day of drama

Alex Wickham, Bloomberg News on

Published in News & Features

Keir Starmer thanked his Cabinet for keeping him in his job and praised Labour’s Scottish leader, Anas Sarwar, a day after surviving his call for the prime minister to go.

Britain’s premier teetered on the brink on Monday after Sarwar’s call for a leadership change in Westminster came on top of the departures of two key aides. But a Downing Street operation ensured every member voiced their support for Starmer in quick succession, including one of his main rivals, Health Secretary Wes Streeting.

On Tuesday, the prime minister thanked members of his political Cabinet — which excludes politically neutral civil servants — for their support, according to a readout from his office. “He said they were strong and united,” it said.

There were also words of support for Sarwar — a friend of Starmer who when urging the prime minister to step down on Monday had cited the need to secure a Labour victory in elections for the Scottish Parliament in May. “The Prime Minister said that the whole of the Labour Party wants Anas Sarwar to become First Minister and will fight for a Labour government in Scotland,” the readout said.

Starmer’s remarks represent a bid to calm tensions in the governing Labour Party which threatened to boil over with Sarwar’s intervention less than 24 hours earlier. However a raft of ministerial resignations feared by some Starmer allies did not materialize, and the Cabinet declarations of support — as well as one from former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, shored up the premier’s position.

 

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband — a former party leader who’s also often touted as a potential challenger to Starmer —told broadcasters on Tuesday that Labour should get behind the premier.

“I think MPs as a whole looked over the precipice yesterday and thought we need to step back, we need to back our leader, we need to back the man who as elected only 18 months ago as prime minister,” Miliband told Sky News. “This has got to be a moment of change for the government,” he said, describing as “Herculean” its task of winning back public support and calling speculation he might stand against Starmer “baloney.”

U.K. borrowing costs dipped on Tuesday as the risk of a sudden leadership change faded. Longer-dated bonds gained the most, with the 30-year yield falling four basis points to 5.31% after a sharp rise on Monday when it appeared that Starmer might be forced to step down. The 10-year yield declined by a similar amount to 4.50%.


©2026 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus