Steve Reed On Keir Starmer Says Unpopular PM Faces No Challenge
Steve Reed on Keir Starmer turned into a blunt warning this morning, with the housing secretary saying the prime minister is unpopular while urging Labour colleagues to back him and avoid a leadership challenge. Reed said the party should put “country first, party second” as pressure on Starmer grows inside Labour.
He told Sky News that “Each of the last four prime ministers, in turn, has been the most unpopular prime minister we’ve ever had.” Reed then argued that Labour needed to come together behind the prime minister and “focus on how we can deliver the change the British public want to see faster.”
Reed Rejects Leadership Challenge
Reed also told the that “there is no leadership challenge” and said “internal-facing nonsense” was the wrong focus for Labour. He added, “If people wanted to gather the nominations then it’s open for them to do that – they would need to find enough Labour MPs that wanted to endorse them but nobody has done that.”
That leaves the party in a narrow space: criticism of Starmer is now public, but Reed said no one has secured the MP nominations needed to turn that criticism into a formal contest. He also told the, “It’s been a very difficult week but we need to take a breath now, take this weekend to reflect on what’s going on, and come back next week and focus on the country we were elected to serve.”
Makerfield And Andy Burnham
The pressure has sharpened after Labour MP Josh Simons announced on Friday that he would stand down from his constituency in Makerfield to make way for Andy Burnham to stand as a candidate in a byelection. Simons said he believed Burnham could “drive the change our country is crying out for,” while Lucy Powell said there would be no attempt to stop Burnham from fighting the upcoming byelection.
Powell also told a Fire Brigades Union conference in Coventry that Labour could not let Nigel Farage reach Downing Street, saying the party needed to come back together “as one team.” Reed did not back a challenge and said Labour would not “copy the chaos we saw under the Conservatives,” drawing a line between party disagreement and a formal move against Starmer.
Starmer, South London, Saturday
Starmer spent Friday morning at a south London police station, where he met Sadiq Khan and Mark Rowley ahead of major protests in London on Saturday. Reed’s remarks landed against that backdrop, with one Labour ally defending the prime minister while another route back into parliament opened for Burnham.
For Labour members weighing their next move, Reed’s message was direct: there is space for criticism, but not yet a contest. Unless MPs start to line up nominations, the leadership pressure stays political rather than procedural.
