Those whispers turned into a roar after yesterday’s local elections, which even Labour MPs are calling “catastrophic”.
The party is in open revolt, with MPs saying Starmer’s first 10 months in office “haven’t been good enough”.
A desperate Labour threw everything at the Runcorn by-election, only to lose to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
The left is now blaming Starmer directly, accusing him of alienating core voters by backing cuts to disability benefits and scrapping the winter fuel allowance.
That’s despite handing Labour a huge landslide last July, albeit without much voter enthusiasm.
The backlash reveals just how far Starmer has fallen since then.
But don’t expect Starmer to be ousted. His majority is far too large. The rebellion, for now, will go nowhere.
He’ll just limp from crisis after crisis, as has been the pattern since he took office.
Another rumour is doing the rounds though. It’s been quietly circulating for months, and has gained fresh life after Labour’s dire showing at the polls.
It’s long been suspected that Starmer doesn’t enjoy political life. Few would describe him as a natural campaigner or gifted communicator.
Now there’s growing talk that he won’t contest the next general election at all. One term will be enough for him. No doubt there are plenty of lucrative jobs awaiting him.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Even if true, we’re still looking at four more years of Starmer in No 10.
But the speculation is gaining serious attention, including from ITV’s Robert Peston, who’s called it “astonishing” for this kind of talk to surface so soon after a landslide.
So who comes next? Already the guessing game has begun and the frontrunner is enough to send shivers through anyone outside the Labour activist bubble.
Former Labour MP and Daily Telegraph commentator Tom Harris has just penned one of the most chilling sentences in political journalism writing: “Mark my words, Miliband has a shot at becoming PM.”
Stop laughing. Or crying.
It sounds absurd, until you look at who gets to vote in a leadership contest: Labour grassroots activists.
Among party members, Ed is far and away the most popular cabinet minister. A recent poll on LabourList puts his net favourability at a staggering +68.6.
Worried? You should be.
Next in line is another darling of the activist left, Deputy PM Angela Rayner, with a +62.9 rating.
Lisa Nandy trails in third, far behind on +38.9. Realistically, it’s a straight contest between Miliband and Rayner.
Either would delight the Labour base. Whether the rest of the country would feel the same is another matter.
As for Chancellor Rachel Reeves? Not a chance. Her economic credibility is in tatters, and her party activist rating stands at -11.2. If she ever crossed the threshold of No 10, the pound and bond markets might not recover.
For now, this is all speculation. Starmer’s position is secure. But should he decide the job isn’t for him, we may not like what comes next.
Frankly, having seen the alternatives, I’m beginning to hope he stays.
