Prime minister faces criticism from Emily Thornberry, who highlights risk of ‘handing country to Farage’
Keir Starmer has been warned by senior Labour figures to stop making mistakes, before a battle over the party’s deputy leadership and amid fears the government could row back on workers’ rights.
As candidates began to jostle to replace Angela Rayner, the prime minister faced public criticism from Emily Thornberry, a potential contender, who said further mistakes from Starmer could lead to having to “hand our country to [Nigel] Farage”.
Andy Burnham also called for a “reset” and more pluralistic style, telling the Guardian that the government needed to be “listening to the heartbeat of the party”.
The Greater Manchester mayor, considered a future candidate to succeed Starmer, cannot run for the deputy leadership but he endorsed either Louise Haigh or Lucy Powell – two former cabinet ministers sacked by the prime minister.
