"The humiliation is complete: even Labour Together the outfit that quietly plotted Starmer's leadership bid is now sharpening its knives. It is polling members on who should replace him, indulging the comforting fantasy that swapping captains will somehow stop the ship from sinking. The Tory experience of regicide should offer a caution: do not depose a king unless you have already settled on a prince who understands why the kingdom is in crisis."
"A couple of years ago, he openly sketched out his leadership bid strategy: I'd tack left. You win the Labour leadership from the left, as I reminded Tony Blair from time to time. His true instincts were laid bare in 2021, when he was reported to have told the shadow cabinet: Every day, we should drag a sacred cow of our party to the town market place and slaughter it until we are up to our knees in blood."
Labour colleagues increasingly blame Keir Starmer for the party's humiliation and are actively polling members on potential replacements, including through Labour Together. Critics warn against an impulsive leadership ousting without a clear successor who understands the party's crisis, citing the Tory experience that ousting Boris Johnson led to Liz Truss's market-detonating premiership. Blairites claim a supposed leftward lurch and Starmer's lack of vision and charisma explain failures. Their preferred successor is health secretary Wes Streeting, portrayed as a Blairite ultra with longstanding leadership ambitions. Streeting has publicly proposed winning leadership from the left but has also been reported urging ruthless party reform, symbolized by his 'sacred cow' remark.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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