He’s going.
Skills Minister Jacqui Smith (drawing the short straw) on Times Radio this morning:
“I would have been very happy for [Starmer] to continue. But he understands, and we can all see, the pressure being brought upon him. The challenges that are around.”
Later on BBC Breakfast:
“‘I’m absolutely clear that what he has been thinking about is what is in the best interest of the British people…”
She nonetheless admitted she would serve under Andy Burnham, if – or realistically, when – it comes to it. Dozens of cameras are lining up outside No10 at the time of going to pixel. Starmer returned to the building last night after a lonely weekend in Chequers…
Peter Kyle on the Sunday broadcast round:
“I don’t want to come on here and be delusional that there is no process, there are no forces at work which are challenging the Prime Minister as leader. That is clearly the case… [Starmer] is taking time to think through what the political realities are today compared to last week…”
A clear change in tone from just a few days ago. Starmer is expected to call it quits tomorrow. Stay tuned…
Word reaches Guido that the government intends to publish a green paper on the future of broadcasting in the UK either in the coming week or the week after. More Ofcom expansion and pot shots at right-of-centre outlets incoming…
The main news, however, is set to be a range of measures to force private social media companies to ‘give prominence’ to public service content. Translated, that means giving the BBC preference in search results and on the algorithm of video sites such as YouTube. It’s not as if the BBC already has total dominance of the broadcast market or anything, holding as it does more than 75% of average viewing time…
Other platforms like TikTok will likely be affected. Could the timing have anything to do with the fact that YouTube overtook the total audience reach of the BBC recently?
Forcing British consumers to consume BBC and other public broadcasting content while they browse their phones is yet another government intervention in the free media market. It’s bad for content creators, will only increase antipathy to the BBC, and is an infringement on the freedom of scrollers everywhere. Starmer wants a legacy to justify his two disastrous years in Number 10. This is what it looks like…
Starmer has just held a call with Labour staff in a panicked attempt to head off talk of Burnham’s inevitable leadership challenge. He has also been ringing Cabinet ministers to urge them against jumping ship. Desperate…
He added that the party should now “take Reform on” after Burnham’s comfortable Makerfield win:
“The tide is turning on Reform. If you look at the national polling, Reform are now only six or seven points ahead of Labour in the national polls, which two years into a five year parliament is a place that we can make huge advances from
“The next opportunity is the Greater Manchester Mayoralty, which now will follow as a result of the Makerfield by-election. It’s a chance to go and take the fight to Reform
“It’s really important, it’s a huge by-election, one of the biggest by-elections we’ll ever run. It is really important that we maintain that Labour mayoralty, and that we take Reform on
“This is the fight in politics at the moment. We should relish the opportunity to take the fight to Reform and give them a hiding in Manchester, and frankly, expose them for who they are: divisive, inward, wanting to divide our country, the complete opposite values to us.
“When they see problems, they don’t ask how do we fix this problem, they ask how do we exploit this problem. When they see communities, they don’t look at the great strength of our communities, they think, how can we pull this community apart, how can we set people and individuals and groups against each other?
“That is the complete opposite of us in the Labour Party, who believe in our communities, who believe that by coming together we get the best out of everyone. We are the true patriots, they are plastic patriots.
“Let’s pull together as a party and a movement. The one thing we’ve got to avoid doing is plunging our party and our country into chaos by turning on each other and tearing apart our party and our movement. That has never worked. That’s what the last government did. We need to learn that lesson.”
Burnham allies are now briefing that they hope to be in Number 10 by September, with Starmer waving the white flag early to avoid bloodshed. Starmer will have to be dragged kicking and screaming out of the bunker…
Hat-tip: Steven Swinford
Harriet Harman has told the Today programme she thinks Starmer, Burnham and Streeting should agree on a ‘process’ for a leadership contest, and Labour MPs should have the final say. Just six weeks ago, Starmer appointed Harman as his new ‘Adviser on Women and Girls’ in the wake of Labour’s local election bloodbath. Now she’s explaining to Justin Webb how he should probably go…
‘[They] should be got in a room by the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, Lucy Powell, and the Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party, Jess Morden, to agree a process whereby the Labour MPs choose who they want… you can’t govern without the support of Labour MPs… But that’s my view. I think the process should be Labour MPs choosing. And I think that’s the best thing for stability of government.”
She did at least add that a woman should be on the ballot as well. So Starmer can be reassured she’s still taking her new role seriously, sort of…
Robert Jenrick on the Today programme:
“Can you now give a guarantee to your listeners this morning that no BBC presenter in the future will be exposed as a paedophile, as a number have been in the recent past? No, of course you can’t…”