Leadership options in focus amid fears over election losses, with allies of Greater Manchester mayor stepping up preparations for a comeback
Andy Burnham has plan to return to Westminster ‘within weeks’, allies say
When the eyes of Westminster were on the committee rooms and voting lobbies of parliament this week, Keir Starmer’s political future was being decided elsewhere.
Wes Streeting and Angela Rayner were buttering up Labour MPs in the Strangers’ Bar in parliament as colleagues spoke of their “existential” fear about the crucial elections next week.
Starmer, meanwhile, tried to calm backbenchers’ nerves as he did the rounds in the members-only smoking room and his private office behind the Commons chamber. One former minister said the mood was so dark that several MPs refused to meet the leader, saying: “We don’t want to be seen with him.”
