An exasperated Bridget Phillipson speaking to Laura Kuenssberg:
“We’ve had a real kicking. Keir knows that, I know that… I’m not going to come on here and say that there aren’t big and serious national issues that we have to address. We can, and we will. But I just do not believe that the message we should take from these elections is that we ought to spend time as a party [arguing] amongst ourselves… we do need to tell a better story, we do need to deliver faster…”
Asked if she thought Starmer should carry on as Prime Minister into the next election, Phillipson said yes. Her colleagues don’t seem to agree…
Starmer loyalist and Housing Secretary Steve Reed told Sky News that Starmer should not be replaced:
“We saw what the Tories did. They were in power for 14 years, and after 2016, I think we had nine education secretaries, seven chancellors, and five Prime Ministers. Doomscrolling through Prime Ministers doesn’t resolve the problem.”