The mood on the Labour benches is turning ugly. MPs are furious.
It’s just 10 months since Starmer handed the party a rare landslide general election win, and already many want him gone.
They’ve watched him stumble through a bruising round of local elections, losing two-thirds of the seats Labour was defending.
The Runcorn by-election defeat was a stark reminder of how fragile their own seats are.
They don’t care that Starmer has chalked up two major trade deals in three days.
They still think he’s steering the party into disaster. He can’t connect with ordinary voters and worse, he can’t connect with his own party.
Frustrated MPs have zeroed in on the first big decision of this government: Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ move to axe the Winter Fuel Payment for 10million pensioners.
That has been widely blamed for Labour’s local election nosedive.
Anger is also boiling over £5billion worth of cuts to disability benefits announced in the Spring Statement.
More than 40 Labour MPs have signed a public letter of protest. A second, private letter is said to carry more than 80 names.
That could be enough to wipe out Starmer’s huge Parliamentary majority and inflict shattering defeat on his authority.
So far, Starmer and Reeves are standing firm on the Winter Fuel Payment. But pressure is mounting.
Some MPs are openly questioning whether Starmer is the right man to lead them into the next election.
Many would prefer Deputy PM Angela Rayner, who speaks the language of working people in a way Starmer never has.
Discipline is already breaking down. Labour MP Ian Byrne has said he’d “swim through vomit” to vote against the proposals.
Diane Abbott has accused the government of balancing the books on the backs of the poor.
It’s not just the usual suspects this time, even centrist MPs from the 2024 intake are backing the revolt. But one thing is holding them back.
There’s only one name Labour MPs revile more than Keir Starmer’s right now – and that’s Nigel Farage.
After recent election results, Farage is rampant. He’s a serious threat to Labour in working-class, northern constituencies, known as the Red Wall.
These are voters who cautiously backed Labour last time. But now, angry over immigration and disillusioned by policy cuts, many are swinging behind Reform.
The Red Wall has abandoned the useless Tories. They’ve got no time for the Lib Dems or Greens.
But they might turn out for Farage in force.
That terrifies Labour MPs, who could easily see their own seats fall to a Reform insurgency at the next election.
And that’s handing Starmer an unexpected lifeline.
Labour MPs are terrified of doing anything that will give Reform an edge. Some may grit their teeth and stick with a leader they don’t believe in, rather than boost a man they hate.
Their supposedly principled opposition to Winter Fuel Payment and disability benefit cuts may give way to something more primal. Fear of losing their seats.
Faced with a choice between unpopular welfare cuts and a Farage-led government, even the angriest rebels may decide it’s safer to stay silent.
Not through strength. Not through unity. And definitely not through principle. But fear of Farage. That’s now all that’s holding Labour together.