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Labour’s powerful soft left caucus has urged Keir Starmer to reshuffle his cabinet and put an end to factional infighting, with several calling for the return of Angela Rayner, Louise Haigh and Lucy Powell.
The Tribune group of more than 100 MPs has long called in private for the departure of Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, who quit on Sunday.
It had been widely expected to call for McSweeney’s resignation in the aftermath of the May elections, as well as demand a wider cabinet reshuffle and a significant reset of economic policy as the price for continued backing of Starmer.
In a statement, it said it would be “wrong and counterproductive” to launch a leadership contest though stopped short of giving the prime minister its personal endorsement.
The group is led by Haigh as well as the former whip Vicky Foxcroft, the former minister Justin Madders, the select committee chair Sarah Owen, Yuan Yang and Beccy Cooper, said it was now time for Starmer to show he was committed to a new way of working.
“When the government has deviated from our Labour values, it has made errors, but this Labour government has begun the serious work of changing the country and delivering the national renewal we promised voters in 2024,” it said.
The majority of MPs in the group were opposed to the welfare cuts proposed last year and have criticised the prime minister for losing focus on the cost of living.
In a statement the group said the public rightly expected “change to be felt more quickly” and Starmer should appoint a cabinet that reflected this, “especially in our economy and in living standards”.
The cabinet should “reflect the breadth of views across the parliamentary Labour party [PLP] and the diverse traditions that make up our movement”, the MPs said.
The statement came at the end of the a day of turmoil, in which the the prime minister’s communications chief, Tim Allan, also departed and the Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, called on Starmer to resign.
Across Westminster MPs said they had believed Sarwar’s call was part of a coordinated operation to remove Starmer that never materialised – and that any plans for ministerial resignations after the intervention had crumbled.
“There is no way he would do this without it being coordinated,” one senior Labour source said. MPs said they were baffled – and angry. “He has shored up Keir’s position,” said one MP critical of the prime minister. “I don’t know who he is backing but if someone put him up to it then they have bottled it.”
“If there was a way to galvanise the PLP, this was it,” one new intake MP said.
“It was summed up for me when Anas said he didn’t know who should replace Keir,” a Scottish MP said. “Keir cannot lead us into the next election but there is no point in moving until we know where we are going.”
Dozens of MPs, many of them private critics of Starmer’s leadership, posted effusive support for the prime minister on social media. Scottish MPs said they were dismayed at the premature move by Sarwar.
“I think some colleagues saw what the moment of betrayal might look like and baulked,” said one loyal minister. “It looked absolutely mad. It has given a lot of people pause. I hope they give the prime minister a reprieve now to attempt to rebuild his team and to rebuild trust. Everyone knows it’s the last chance.”
