Keir Starmer may decide to step aside before the next election if it would save the Labour party from defeat to Reform, allies have revealed.
Downing Street insisted that the Prime Minister’s position has not changed since last week – when he made it clear that there is no leadership contest to succeed him.
But No 10 and allies did not deny reports that Starmer has spent the weekend in Chequers with aides weighing up his future after last week’s leadership crisis, when nearly 100 Labour MPs for him to quit and Wes Streeting and several ministers and ministerial aides resigned.
A Cabinet ally of the Prime Minister urged him to remain in place because he was an “island of stability” amid political, economic and international turmoil.
But the ally also suggested that there may come a point between now and the next general election when Starmer decides to go of his own accord in the best interests of the Labour party.
