Sir Keir Starmer has not spoken to his probable successor as prime minister since the day Andy Burnham was selected to fight Makerfield on May 19. This is the most passive-aggressive coup in modern history.
By pretending Burnham’s not there, political reality can apparently remain deferred and unconfronted. But time is up. Over the weekend, the reality has become overwhelming. From 200 miles away in Manchester, the show of strength could no longer be ignored.
Even as Starmer repeatedly insisted he would stay in post, his authority has evaporated. In Cabinet, Shabana Mahmood, Yvette Cooper, Ed Miliband and Heidi Alexander are the ones we know for sure who have privately asked him to agree a timeline for his departure. There are probably more.
There are certainly other Cabinet ministers who have privately told The i Paper in recent weeks they think Starmer should go – even if right now they hold back in letting their views be known, so it looks as if Starmer came to the inevitable conclusion on his own.
The last person to come to terms with the political reality is in No 10. Even as they carry out the wooden lectern into Downing Street, the Prime Minister will still believe he has a five-year mandate; and, like the late Queen Elizabeth II, it’s his duty not to abdicate.
