Keir Starmer has dismissed specualtion about his leadership and insisted he will still be Prime Minister in 12 months. The Prime Minister spoke out as Labour’s civil war broke out into the open, and he accused Labour rival Andy Burnham of planning to crash the economy in the same way as former Prime Minister Liz Truss.
Sir Keir was asked in an interview with ITV Border: “Will you still be Prime Minister in a year’s time?” He replied: “Yes, and I intend to lead from the front, just as I am now.” The Prime Minister issued a declaration of war after Mr Burnham, the Greater Manchester Mayor, revealed Labour MPs are privately urging him to challenge Sir Keir for the Labour Party leadership.
Sir Keir suggested Andy Burnham’s spending plans would “inflict that harm on working people”. Speculation around Sir Keir’s future, and who could replace him if he is forced to stand down, is set to dominate Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool, which begins Sunday.
Allies of the Prime Minister have highlighted Mr Burnham’s plans to increase spending on policies such as housing and his comment, in an interview with the New Statesman, that “we’ve got to get beyond this thing of being in hock to the bond markets.” This is seen as criticism of the Government’s “fiscal rules”, which are designed to limit borrowing.
Sir Keir was today asked about leadership speculation by ITV Granada journalist Lise McNally. She asked: “Prime Minister, Andy Burnham says some of your own MPs are urging him to challenge your leadership. Are you feeling threatened?”
The Prime Minister replied: “Well, I’m not going to get drawn into commenting on the mayor’s personal ambitions, but I do want to be really clear about our fiscal rules, because economic stability is the foundational stone of this government. It was three years this week ago that Liz Truss shows what happens if you abandon fiscal rules.
“Now, in her case, she did that for tax cuts. But the same would happen if it was spending.
“And, we saw what happened to working people three years ago, the infliction of harm on them. I’m not prepared to let a Labour government ever inflict that harm on working people. Which is why I’ve always been clear our fiscal rules are ironclad. And that is because they protect working people.”
“And there’s nothing progressive about borrowing more than we need to. It’s nothing progressive about abandoning fiscal rules. They’re the foundational stone of this “government.”
In an interview with the Telegraph, Mr Burnham made it clear he still wants to be Labour leader after standing for the post twice before. He said: “I stood twice to be leader of the Labour Party. And I think that tells you, doesn’t it?”
Asked if MPs were encouraging him to stand, he said: “People have contacted me throughout the summer – yeah. I’m not going to say to you that that hasn’t happened, but as I say, it’s more a decision for those people than it is for me.”
Sir Keir’s decision to criticise Mr Burnham will add to leadership speculation and the drama at the Labour conference, but suggests he feels that Mr Burnham is a genuine threat.
Some of Sir Keir’s Labour allies have urged Mr Burnham to stick to his Greater Manchester job. Housing Secretary Steve Reed insisted Labour members should focus on “how we drive change” during the party’s annual conference next week instead of turning inwards to discuss manoeuvres to replace Sir Keir.
“Change is what people voted for, change is what we’re going to deliver, and I’m not going to be diverted by tittle-tattle in the papers,” the Streatham and Croydon North MP told Times Radio. Andy is playing a great role already.
“He’s the mayor of Greater Manchester and he’s doing an incredible job there, if you look at what they’re doing on homelessness or what they’re doing working with local health services. He will keep doing that work, because that is the commitment he gave until the end of his term.”
