LONDON — Keir Starmer isn’t going down without a fight.
As his premiership hangs in the balance, the U.K. prime minister wants to persuade Labour MPs he’s still their best bet.
The pivotal Makerfield by-election on June 18 will determine whether leadership rival Andy Burnham returns to Westminster. The current Greater Manchester mayor could then spark an internal contest aiming to remove Starmer from office.
But in the meantime, Starmer is giving it the college try. “The Labour Party has a process for challenging a leader and it has not been triggered,” his spokesperson said last week. “The Prime Minister will not walk away from the mandate he was given just two years ago to build a stronger, fairer Britain.”
And the embattled PM told ministers in No.10 Downing Street Monday afternoon what he was telling friends over the weekend: that he will fight a leadership election if challenged.
POLITICO highlights five ways the British PM is trying to show MPs his administration still has plenty of road to run — and assesses if any of it will work.
1. Standing on the world stage
Starmer played the statesman Sunday — hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Frederich Merz in Downing Street to game out potential negotiations with Russia. The PM is also heading to the upcoming G7 summit at Evian, where he’ll get to hobnob with fellow global chiefs.
It’s a familiar play for a PM in peril. During the tail end of Boris Johnson’s time in power, the Tory leader always seemed to have a call with the Ukrainian president lined up in his most acute moments of peril.
Talking up British solidarity with Ukraine is a welcome distraction for a PM with domestic challenges. It also grants a photo op any ambitious rival will struggle to match.
Effectiveness rating: 7/10. Zelenskyy still commands respect, but few believe the U.K.’s Ukraine policy will shift under a new leader.
2. Taking on Big Tech
Tackling kids’ use of smartphones and social media is a subject close to the hearts of many Labour MPs.
After much criticism from his old colleague Jess Phillips for slow movement on the issue, Starmer on Monday told tech firms they must block children from sending or receiving intimate images within three months — or he will legislate.
Starmer may go further and restrict under-16’s access to “harmful” platforms, and features like infinite scrolling and autoplay, according to a report in the Times — though the PM is yet to commit.
Effectiveness: 4/10. Starmer’s Monday announcement landed well — but lawmakers who think he’s an incrementalist have been calling for a full-blown Australian-style social media ban for months.
3. Splashing the cash
Pulling the public spending lever rarely goes down badly with Labour MPs — but the devil’s always in the details.
Starmer’s Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced last month that value added tax — a consumption levy — will be slashed from 20 percent to 5 percent on a range of family-friendly activities, including children’s meals, cinema tickets and amusement parks.Kids aged five to 15 will also be able to travel free on buses over August under an initiative dubbed the “Great British Summer Savings” scheme.
Effectiveness: 5/10. This is a temporary deal which ends in September just as energy bills are set to go up. Expensive retail policies aren’t always election winners, either. Just ask Rishi Sunak, architect of the last government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme.
4. Pointing at graphs
A plethora of positive U.K. stats should — in theory — give Starmer some momentum.
The U.K. economy grew more than expected in the first quarter of the year, and net migration fell dramatically from 331,000 in the year ending December 2024 to 171,000 last year — a level last seen in early 2021 during Covid-19.
NHS waiting list numbers — a particularly sensitive subject for Labour MPs — have dropped to their lowest level in 3.5 years, a 500,000 fall since the 2024 general election.
Effectiveness: 6/10. These are signs of progress: but graphs and stats rarely trump vibes when mutiny is in the air. Polls suggest voters are still struggling with the cost of living, think immigration is too high and are dissatisfied with the NHS — and that’s got MPs itchy.
5. Talking up the mandate
Starmer’s allies have been busy reminding MPs that the PM led Labour to a huge landslide election victory in 2024.
“The prime minister won a very large majority for our party on a five-year program to change the country,” Skills Minister Jacqui Smith told Times Radio Monday. “He should be getting on with doing that.”
The U.K. doesn’t have a presidential system, but a change of leader would likely prompt calls for a fresh general election from Labour’s political opponents — even though Burnham has insisted he won’t call one if he becomes PM.
Opinion polls — and last month’s abysmal local election results — indicate many Labour MPs would lose their seats.
Effectiveness: 2/10. Almost nobody thinks Starmer can pull off a 2024 repeat. Dozens of Labour MPs have already called for him to go, fearing the public’s negative view of him is fixed — and only a change of leader can prevent Labour handing the keys of No. 10 Downing Street to Nigel Farage.