Starmer’s MPs Should Think Twice Before Attempting a Coup
The UK prime minister is in big trouble; whether he can take on Reform is the only metric that counts.
Labour MPs should think carefully before attempting to ditch their leader.
Photograph: WPA Pool/Getty Images Europe
Regicide is on the mind of every Labour Member of Parliament. Like decaying nuclear waste, Keir Starmer’s radioactive missteps are playing out as half-life theory, each coming harder on the heels of the next. On Monday, he lost his trusted speechwriter over leaked salacious quips about a female MP; four days before that, he sacked his US ambassador after Bloomberg News exposed the extent of his friendship with the pedophile Jeffrey Epstein; six days earlier, his deputy PM quit after admitting she failed to pay full property taxes.
Labour MPs say it cannot go on like this; many, perhaps a majority, want the prime minister gone. But taking down a sitting premier is not simple — and those who want him gone must be certain the price is worth paying.