United Kingdom is facing a leadership crisis. Health minister Wes Streeting has resigned challenging Prime Minister Keir Starmer for the post.
In 2024, UK’s Labour Party swept to power in a landslide win. It ended it’s 14 year long stay in the Opposition benches.
Less than two years later, nearly 90 Labour MPs have asked the PM to step down as the government’s popularity rating slide. Starmer days that he will carry on.
The 2024 elections were held in a Britain grappling with a changing society and a surge of nationalist sentiments. The Labour 411 seats in a 650-seat House of Commons.
This was one of the best elections for Labour in over a century. But it got a vote share of only 34 per cent- the lowest for a ruling party in UK.
The Conservatives lost 244 seats, winning 24 per cent of the vote share. It was down from 40 per cent in 2019.
The winners in 2024 were smaller parties. The Greens won 7 per cent votes and picked up four seats.
Nigel Farage’s nationalist and anti-immigration Reform Party won 14 per cent of the votes even though it picked up only five seats. This showed the inherent limitation of the first past the post system, which India too has, in reflecting an inclusive national mood.
On its part, the Labour Party got its part somewhat right. It got over being seen as extreme Left wing by the replacement of its leader Jeremy Corbyn in Starmer in 2020.
Starmer is a centrist politician with his record as a public prosecutor, but with a certain lean-in with the Blairite wing of the Labour, the so-called New Labour.
The British pride themselves with their special relation with US. The election of Donald Trump strained things.
From the tariff ear to rebukes over the Iran War, Trump has spared Starmer nothing despite the latter’s efforts to cultivate him. This includes using King Charles’ royal sheen to full effect.
But Starmer’s bigger problem is appointment of Peter Mandelson as the HK’s ambassador to US. Despite his father chequered past, Mandelson was given the post in the hopes of leveraging his personal ties with Trump.
But there are revelations about Mandelson’s relation with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. It is a nightmare to Starmer.
Though Britain has done reasonably economically well in the past year, the prevailing mood is that of discontent. Inflation is at uncomfortable levels
Most opinion polls show Reform being preferred by over 25 per cent of the population. Labour and Conservative struggle around for 20 per cent. Reform is pulling voters from both Labour and the Conservatives .
In this scenario, UK held local council seats in May.
The results were not surprising.
Reform picked up 1300 council seats. The Greens picked up around 400.
The Conservatives lost around 400 seats. The Labour was down nearly 1200 seats.
With a population of around 65 million, UK has 650 MPs in the Lower House, clearly demonstrating the importance of local elections for the country’s MPs. No wonder then that knives are out for Starmer in the Labour camp.
