UK's Starmer under renewed pressure as lawmakers urge him to quit

Keir Starmer has came under renewed pressure on Monday when four ministerial aides stepped down and more than 70 Labour lawmakers publicly called for the British prime minister's resignation after his appeal for another chance seemingly fell on deaf ears.

At an address to the party faithful in London, Starmer had made an impassioned plea to both his party and voters to stick with him and avoid a leadership contest he said would only bring chaos, but his speech appeared to do little to stem the tide.

The Times newspaper reported that interior minister Shabana Mahmood and other cabinet ministers had told the prime minister to consider setting out a timeline for his departure as Labour lawmakers went public to express their dissatisfaction over one of the worst defeats for Labour in last week's local elections.

Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper told Starmer that he should oversee an orderly transition of power, according to the Guardian.

ITV News reported that Starmer's deputy, David Lammy, was also urging his boss to set out a departure timetable.

Four ministerial aides said they were resigning, believing that Starmer, 63, was not the man to lead Labour into the next national election, due in 2029, and hoping to trigger a leadership contest that could last weeks, if not months.

Starmer swiftly announced new appointments to fill a number of vacant positions.

Nevertheless, Starmer's attempt to convince his party and voters that he could be bolder in tackling the myriad of problems besetting Britain since he won a large majority in 2024, looked set to fail to win over the very people it was aimed at.

PM HAS LOST AUTHORITY, SAYS MINISTERIAL AIDE

"It is clear to me that the prime minister has lost authority not just within the parliamentary Labour Party but across the country and that he will not be able to regain it," said Tom Rutland, a ministerial aide to the environment minister, in his resignation letter.

Catherine West, a little-known former junior minister who broke cover at the weekend to threaten to seek a leadership contest if Starmer failed to offer radical change, told Reuters she had received 80 responses supporting her demand that the prime minister set out a timetable for his departure.

She called for a leadership election to happen in September.

The Times reported that Mahmood was one of at least three cabinet ministers to suggest that the prime minister needed to consider his position.

Downing Street officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment and the cabinet is due to meet on Tuesday morning. Two of Starmer's closest allies, environment minister Steve Reed and defence minister John Healey, entered the prime minister's Downing Street office late on Monday, according to Sky News.

Earlier, Starmer had tried to change the narrative about his premiership, arguing that he would now offer a "complete break" with the decision-making of the past that led to the "status quo".

On any leadership bid, he said continuity was more important now with a global backdrop of conflicts in Ukraine and Iran.

Starmer promised to govern with the "hope" and "urgency" required to improve living standards and produce a "stronger, fairer" Britain to try to crush the challenge posed by the populist Reform UK party on the right, and the Greens from the left, before the next national election.