Peston: Starmer at Chequers Deciding Departure Timetable
Sir Keir Starmer is at Chequers this weekend making what ITV political editor Robert Peston called a “very difficult decision”: whether to re-assert his authority and re-energise his government, or announce a timetable for a leadership election and his own departure. Cabinet ministers told Peston that some of them now believe “the die is already cast that he will have to resign in coming months, whether Burnham is elected an MP or not”, and that the Prime Minister should “acknowledge that reality” and use a time-limited period to shape a positive legacy.
Other ministers told Peston the Prime Minister should stay, fearing “mayhem if Burnham were to lose” the Makerfield by-election, in which circumstance “it would be preferable for the party to draw breath rather than charge headlong into a leadership election”. Peston flagged a conflict of interest: many of those insisting he should not quit will be out of a job if Starmer is replaced. One minister told Peston the choice “is not so binary” and that “other options” could keep “the government show on the road” — but added that whatever Starmer decides, he “will have to spell this out explicitly and in detail to all of us”. Colleagues, Peston said, “don’t know what he will decide”.