Keir Starmer ‘hanging by the THINNEST of THREADS’ as senior Cabinet Ministers call for the PM to go

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]Could today be the day?

[00:00:02]>> Yeah, it it it really does feel like all of the dominoes are ready to fall for the prime minister. Of course, the critical thing being this cabinet meeting coming up in the next few hours where >> 5:30 this morning.

[00:00:14]>> Yep. We're, you know, I've heard reports. I know everything. It's just completely, you know, lots of things going on at the moment, but lots of reports suggesting cabinet are going to tell him to go, that he must set out a timet to leave, but who knows? He's very stubborn. Will he cling on? I mean, we've seen we've we heard this all before, haven't we? the prime minister's going and he somehow stays.

[00:00:31]>> Yeah, this is of course our top story today. Is it endgame for the prime minister?

[00:00:36]>> Well, the home secretary Shabban Mammud is among three reported cabinet members uh members urging Saki Stama to resign with 79 Labour MPs now joining the growing mutiny.

[00:00:47]>> But that's not all as six ministerial aids have quit as ministers are expected to warn the prime minister that his position is now untenable. It follows Sakir Stalmer's last ditch attempt to cling on to his premiership following Labour's disastrous local election results. Just how well will his comments age?

[00:01:06]>> I'm not going to shy away from the fact that I've got some doubters. Um, including in my own party. Um, and I'm not going to shy away from the fact that I have to prove them wrong and I will.

[00:01:16]And I take responsibility for not walking away, not plunging our country into chaos as the tourists did time and again. Chaos that did lasting damage to this country.

[00:01:30]>> Well, let's speak to GB News political correspondent Katherine Forster who's at Downing Street for us this morning.

[00:01:36]Morning to you, Katherine. It was a late night there last night, wasn't it?

[00:01:42]>> Yes, it was. Good morning from Downing Street. And here we go again. It feels now inevitable that though the prime minister is saying that he's going nowhere and he's going to prove his doubters wrong, it's looking more and more like he's not going to be given the chance. And as Boris Johnson once said, when the herd moves, it moves. The herd in the Labor Party is moving. We've now had well over 70 MPs publicly calling for the prime minister to go to set out a timetable for his departure. It really is quite surreal because this of course is a government that was elected partly promising to stop the chaos to stop the infighting that we saw when the tries cycled through a whole load of prime ministers in quick succession. Now here we are and it seems likely that we will uh soon or certainly by the end of the year have our sixth prime minister in seven years. So where are we this morning? All hangs really now on the cabinet. uh meeting in just a few hours here and we know that Shabbanamu the home secretary uh yesterday went into Downing Street and urged the prime minister to set a timetable for his departure. Now we also know that other uh cabinet ministers went in among them the foreign secretary Cooper the defense secretary John Healey. We understand those conversations warm were more nuanced. Um supporters like the attorney general, Lord Herma, Steve Reed, the housing secretary still urging the prime minister to stay put. But for all the prime minister says he's not going anywhere. It looks like the decision is taken out of his hands. So all eyes now on the cabinet. Uh I've spoken to people inside number 10 and in the Labour party more broadly who feel really very depressed, alarmed and sad about what is going on. They think look uh of course there are issues but they have no idea who is going to replace the prime minister. We've got two wars going on an incredibly difficult international situation. The cost of living going through the roof again. We've also got a king speech happening tomorrow. I couldn't believe it. I had to be dropped uh by the car quite some way away and walk. There were marching bands at half 5 in the morning going along the side of St. James's Park planning for a king speech at which the the king tomorrow is going to unveil this government's legislative program for the next parliament. And yet it could be that today the prime minister is forced to say that he is going to stand down and a leadership contest begins. Uh a lot hangs also on West treating the health secretary. He's been very very quiet. Uh but many say his fingerprints are all over this. Some of his uh ministerial aids resigning last night uh after the markets closed. All eyes too on the markets this morning who are not going to like what is going on.

[00:05:02]>> Katherine, while we've got you, let me ask you about this because all eyes are now on this cabinet meeting, this impending cabinet meeting which I'm sure ministers are already up and early preparing for. There is a split as you've suggested in the cabinet. We've got some of his most loyal allies, people like Shabban Mammud, who's clearly not in their interest for him to go, calling for the prime minister or seemingly being reportedly urging the prime minister to stand down. What will happen after that cabinet meeting if there is a split? What should we expect to see?

[00:05:32]>> And even if they did, security would automatically >> Well, there definitely is a split. We know that. I think all hangs now on what the prime minister decides to do. how many people in cabinet tell him publicly that the game is up um and whether he feels that he can stay on uh if he decides that he's got no choice but to go uh we could see the podium out here again today. Really quite astonishing.

[00:06:00]If he doesn't heed the advice if the bulk of the cabinet are still saying look we know it's difficult. We've had horrendous results but we don't know what comes next. things could be so much worse. Hang on. Then this potentially goes on. Will the drip drip of Labour MPs calling for him to go continue? Will those uh government resignations tick up? They began last night. Very junior ranks at the moment, but that could change. The prime minister is hanging by the thinnest of threads, and it does feel like that thread is going to break and he's going to fall. But at the moment, nobody really knows what's going to happen next. And of course, the favorite among many Labour MPs. Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, the only Labor politician in the country that the polling suggests would do better than the prime minister at the moment, is out of the running. He doesn't have a seat. Oh, >> such a mess. Katherine, thank you so much for bringing that to us. We will not miss a thing. You're going to be there for us all morning. Thank you so much.

[00:07:08]>> Hello, I'm Bev Turner. Now, it can feel like the money in our bank accounts at the moment does not keep up with the cost of living. And maybe there's a solution. I'm here today with the CEO of Tally Money. Uh Cameron Perry, Cameron, what is Tally Money?

[00:07:25]>> Well, Bev, with Tally Money, you get a current account and a debit card, but instead of pounds, you use milligrams of gold as your everyday money. So why gold?

[00:07:36]>> Gold traditionally is a great store of value. It has on average gone up at over 11% peranom for the last 25 years against the pound. It's tripled in value in the last decade. And in the last 2 years alone, it's increased by 50% against the pound. Banks savings products just can't compete with that level of growth.

[00:07:56]>> But this isn't just about gold. This is about a currency that you guys have created at Tally Money. explain it to me as though I'm an idiot.

[00:08:04]>> So, look, people need to be able to hold their earnings and build their savings in a money that retains its value and remains in their legal control and remains theirs to access away from government control.

[00:08:16]>> Great. You had me not exposed to government control.

[00:08:18]>> You should feel safe and happy with your money. You should have peace of mind the more money you see in your bank balance.

[00:08:23]And that's the type of thing we're trying to deliver and give people choice in the type of money they get to use every day.

[00:08:30]>> Brilliant. Thank you so much, Cameron.

[00:08:32]Thank you.

[00:08:42]>> Should we uh talk to our guest in the studio? Fraser Meers is joining us.

[00:08:46]Fraser, uh I mean, what a day. What a day it's going to be today. There is so much speculation because it really isn't entirely clear yet as to what we might expect. The prime minister could indeed cling on another day and every day now is is more time for him as as we've seen. Prime Ministers do like to just cling on to the last second or we could see a spa a spat of resignations from cabinet ministers if they really want to get rid of him.

[00:09:11]>> Yeah, that's absolutely right. I think all the political logic says that K star is finished. You know, he had those atrocious local election results showing that he's lost the confidence of the public. We've had, you know, around 80 MPs saying they have no confidence in the prime minister. Uh, and we've heard of cabinet ministers telling him to resign. And I'm sure there will be more uh in that cabinet meeting um urging him to go. Um, but the prime minister is not a very political man. He doesn't understand politics. So, we're basically, if he were a normal politician, I think then yes, we could say confidently that we'd be seeing that podium out there today. But he isn't. He is strangely stubborn. He doesn't understand that uh the parties turned against him. He doesn't understand that he is not capable of turning things around either. If you looked at his speech yesterday, this was supposed to be his big make or break speech where he was going to turn things around. What did he say in that that was that was new, that was bold, that was exciting, that was going to win over the doubters?

[00:10:10]He said he had doubters. I think he has enemies, haters.

[00:10:14]>> Yeah, doubters. It's it's half the country or more approval rating is at minus45 I think the last time I checked and and that's the that is the absurd thing about all of this is that despite being so deeply unpopular with the British public inside his own party now as well he still seems to think he's got political capital left >> and and he seems to think that he is delivering something or other that is going to rescue him uh that there is uh some labor program happening going on behind the scenes that's going to turn everything around. There isn't the public is absolutely wise to the fact that this government is not doing anything that is changing their lives for for the better in any way. I suppose the worry is are any of the replacements going to do the same thing. But you know when he was talking about we can't have incremental change anymore. We need bold change then closer to the EU and steel in scum.

[00:11:06]>> That seemed to be the only things and most people thought um again a lot of this speech was recycled even though it was supposed to be. I think Gido Forks worked out that 65% of the announcements were recycled. British steel nationalization, that's that's all well and good, but everyone thought that had already happened.

[00:11:20]>> Yes, but it has.

[00:11:21]>> That's nothing new, is it?

[00:11:22]>> Government's been running it for a long time.

[00:11:23]>> Exactly. The government's been running that plant um for, you know, the best part of a few months. Uh getting closer to the EU, we've known that that's Karma's intention. He announced reannounced a youth mobility scheme.

[00:11:35]Again, I really don't think this is what the public is crying out for in an election that was really, you know, about immigration, the anti-immigration party doing the best.

[00:11:44]>> But it was quite clear yesterday that he wasn't speaking to the nation, was he?

[00:11:47]He was speaking to the party and he was he was giving them what he thought would be catnip. But it appears it it wasn't anywhere near enough. And as Katherine just put it there, the prime minister is hanging now by the thinnest of threads.

[00:12:00]When does it snap? Could it be today in that cabinet meeting?

[00:12:03]>> That's absolutely right. I I think that will have been the straw that broke the camel's back for for a lot of people because he simply did not meet the moment. Yes, I think with the party it could snap very very easily today. A lot of people don't see a way out of this for for Kama. But again, we are relying on his stubborn self being able to recognize uh reality in the face and and it seems as if if that speech from yesterday is anything to go by. If any of the reports we're hearing about his uh determination to cling on or anything to go by, then uh perhaps he will never recognize reality.

[00:12:35]>> Indeed, that speech as well as I think is is really important because this was big up all day yesterday. We were sat here.

[00:12:43]>> Can you believe that crowd? I >> I can't believe it. Ellie, honestly, I can't it feels like a week ago at this point in time. But it was build as his his, you know, his moment to save his career. And I think predictably we all we all watched it and thought I mean goodness me this is not talking to the nation. This is not talking to anyone on the center of his party. This is really talking to the left wing of his party.

[00:13:06]The people he seems to fear the most.

[00:13:08]The ones Angela Raina. We're talking about Andy Bernham. The ones who are definitely not lending him their support at the moment. Things like farright agitators which is really insense. So many people. He's talking about this this rally this this Tommy Robinson rally that's happening on the weekend.

[00:13:23]You didn't mention any other things like the Palestine marches which of course there have been a lot of condemnation of lately. It really was a speech for the left and the far left.

[00:13:32]>> I I I think that's right. Or certainly to to the party faithful and and not the nation as a whole. And it just reminded you of everything people hate about Star because it was totally light on policies, no real principles being or values being articulated. Um and it was heavy on wooden cliches. I'd want to say that strength through fairness, this new slogan he came up with, that could be I'd say that' be his political epitap, but we've probably forgotten it by the end of the week.

[00:13:59]>> It's the opposite of Trump's strength through peace, isn't it? I mean, you know, you really can't make it up.

[00:14:05]>> Can we talk about Wes Streeting? He's been very quiet in all of this. Is he waiting uh for that that number of MPs publicly calling for Stan to go to reach that magic number of 81, do you think, before he says anything? Well, some people are suggesting that he has been the trigger for um this flurry of resignations, particularly the junior um the aids who have been been resigning.

[00:14:26]Many of them are West Streeting allies.

[00:14:28]One of them was his own private uh parliamentary secretary. Uh the thing is the magic 81 number only counts if it's attached to a particular leadership candidate. So I think it's symbolic of course to to suggest that such a large number of MPs want you to go. And again, if Karma had any sense, he would realize that the game is up. Um, but he seems as well to be biting his time. I mean, what could happen is interestingly, the timetable will be important. What if if Karma does resign and there is a leadership contest, the timetable will be important because a faster transition could benefit where streeting because that means that no Andy Bernham will be in parliament and he won't be in play.

[00:15:08]But then again, the softleft group of MPs, the Tribune group, they have said explicitly that if Wes actually manages to do a stitch up, if he becomes prime minister without Andy Burnham on the scene, then they will topple him. So maybe Karma is right that there will be a bit of chaos to come if he leaves. But at the same time, you can't see him clinging on. It's unsustainable. His position is unsustainable.

[00:15:34]>> All right. Shall we uh talk now to political commentator and of course former Conservative Party adviser to Michael Gove as well, Charlie Rally.

[00:15:40]You've been here before. You've seen it all. Charlie, he's been sat in the corner of the room shaking from the PTSD.

[00:15:48]Charlie, >> you don't think and I don't want I don't want to put words in your mouth, but from what we what we've been discussing before the show starts, you're not entirely convinced the prime minister is going.

[00:15:58]>> I'm not. Um and for a number of reasons.

[00:16:01]Uh first of all the cabinet meeting today is called by the prime minister.

[00:16:05]So the idea that it's just a session of ministers coming in to tell him that the prime minister you need to go uh is not what's going to happen. You know it's going to be an agenda of the economy, the NHS talking about the steel uh nationalization, all the other great breakfast clubs, all the other great things uh that this Labor government doing. It's going to be a rah rah rah from the prime minister all the great things you know it's going to be then be very difficult uh at the end of that meeting when you get to you know item number 9 10 11 12 whatever it is any other business uh oh shabbama oh prime minister you should resign you know it's it's going to be very difficult in that meeting for the whole cabinet to then turn against the prime minister it we >> but when the herd moves it moves >> when the herd moves it moves but then the conversation is okay uh Shabban you know I understand what you're saying uh uh you want me to go you don't think I'm the man for the job or the person for the job. Uh you have to then uh take the decision to either resign from my government or name the person that you want to succeed. And as Fraser was saying, we can get uh lost in the hype of 81 MPs saying that the prime minister should go. There could be 150 Labor MPs that say that the prime minister should go by the end of today. He's got 411, I think, uh MPs on his backbenches. He's got ample room to maneuver and to replace those individuals. Six resignations. I know a big headline, but these are uh parliamentary private secretaries. They are essentially the bag carriers to the actual ministers.

[00:17:30]They're not ministers themselves. So, we can get lost in that headline as if they're a great big number of people resigning. Boris had far more people resigning under his government as did Theresa over Brexit deals and she was still able to form uh a government. um you know it harks back to uh so those are a couple there. So the cabinet meeting itself I don't think is going to be as seismic as what we would maybe want it to be or think that it should be um uh given that the country has rejected the prime minister. Obviously the local elections were terrible for this prime minister. Um but Gordon Brown was able to hunker down in 2009 a man that's just been brought back under Saki Stama. So he's got people on his side that knows how to see off these kinds of cues uh left, right, left, right and center. Um you know the king's speech is coming tomorrow that we're talking about unless there is unless there are resignations today unless the cabinet actually resign and say prime minister I think you should go and the prime minister rejects it and they say right okay then I will go that will be the moment where he has to resign. I think it won't be on the numbers of people coming out calling for the resignations.

[00:18:36]It won't be on the back of difficult conversations. The prime minister is a process prime minister. That's why he's unpopular. That's why he doesn't get the politics. And the process is that you have to name an alternative to succeed him. And until people do that, he is in number 10. He's in command.

[00:18:53]>> Do you think we could see cabinet resignations today? How realistic do you think that is as an option? If it goes as the way you say and and you and you don't think that the cabinet meeting will be as seismic as as the the papers are pointing out this morning, does that then leave them with no choice but to start resigning from their posts?

[00:19:08]>> I think it is uh in any other week it's it could be more plausible. But again, just think about the conversation that you're going to have around the cabinet table. If you're west streeting saying to if I'm Saki Stalmer and you're saying to me uh Alex uh as the health secretary uh prime minister I think you should go okay uh I'm not going to do that health secretary I appreciate everything you've just told me if you want to resign I it'll be a loss I'm sorry about that but I have got the king's speech coming tomorrow you want to do you want to upsticks the whole what could be the you the whole reset of the Labor government's package it's not the speech yesterday there should have been more in the speech yesterday it was unfulfilling it was underwhelming but we've got the king speech coming tomorrow which should be the reset of the whole Labor government this is this is the last chance saloon now are you going to be the one that does that I don't think so if you're west streeting at this point in time thinking about the political landscape here he has got a in my opinion a very limited amount of time to move before the left of the party mobilize which they are trying desperately to do so every day that star decides he wants to hang in there is a better day for Andy Bernham it's a better day for Angela As we've seen them say, they don't want they're not actually calling for the prime minister to go. Funnily enough, it's all the people that don't want those two in who seem to be warming up to the idea of Kama going. Sama and Wes, as far as we've been reported in the Telegraph, at least have had a conversation. Wes has apparently told the prime minister he's got a plan for government, a plan for uh being prime minister. Would it not be would it not be politically a suit for the prime minister to say I'd rather the man that's going to follow my agenda be next than somebody like Angela Raina and Andy Bernham who will completely rip my agenda up.

[00:20:54]>> Well uh but we don't know what Wes's plan is. I mean you know what is >> we don't know but apparently he might have told the prime minister what the plan is. So so I guess my question for you Charlie is you know does the prime minister care? I mean, he's the prime minister.

[00:21:10]>> He's not budging.

[00:21:11]>> He's not good. But I guess the question is is if Wes doesn't go this week, has he got another opportunity where he's stronger than he is now? And we know Wes is desperate for this job. And that's what everyone says. Everyone that knows West Street. He wants to be prime minister. He's even said it multiple times. Well, the frustrations could mount throughout the week. There's no doubt about that. You know, it could be a terrible King's speech tomorrow, uh, if we get that far, which I think we will, just because there is nothing really, as it pains me to say it. Um, there is nothing really before me that actually sees the prime minister leaving. You can have, uh, as I say, 80 disgruntled backbenches. It's 80 out of 411, right? That's not, it's a sizable number, don't get me wrong. I'm not underestimating it, but for a prime minister that's tonedeaf to most things, he'll continue to used to register where Labor is not used to register.

[00:22:02]>> Well, but that's the point. They're not used to register. So, they don't have all those 81 MPs. Uh oh, sorry, 70 whatever we're up to now. 79. We we'll get to 80 today. We'll get over 100 today, I would imagine. If they were organized, if they knew how to actually if they were conviction politicians themselves, they would say, "Prime Minister, thank you so much for your time and your service. You were leader of the opposition for a great 5 years.

[00:22:25]You took over from the Corbyn years when we were in the wilderness. You were brilliant then. You got us into government. Uh it hasn't gone to plan.

[00:22:32]You've had two years. Your time's up. I want Angela Raina or I want Andy Burnham. I think West Streeting would do a better job. I think Ed Miller Band actually could do a far better job.

[00:22:41]Whatever their position is, none of them have done that. Right. So, they don't know how to do this. Uh they've never they've never been in government enough to do it. unlike the Tories that have had multiple years to get rid of their leaders. So that's why it's so I think difficult to see how the prime minister does go to until actually you actually see resignations. That's what did it for Boris. Saja Javid resigned quickly followed by Rishi Singap the chancellor.

[00:23:07]If the chancellor decides to go today, wo you know uh you know fireworks and you know popcorn get them out. Uh because that would be seismic. he would be losing senior cabinet ministers that he would have to be trying to replace.

[00:23:19]All at the minute, it's just bluster from disgruntled backbenches who were on the far left of the party anyway. Uh who would rather have it been Jeremy Corbyn still in charge and you know whilst we're at it, the speech yesterday talking about closer ties with the EU.

[00:23:35]Okay, that feels tonedeaf to me and on the back of the local elections results where he's lost a lot of the red wall in terms of council seats constituencies uh wards councils that voted for Brexit that felt that you know Westminster wasn't working for them 10 years ago. Um every other Labor potential leader is calling for closer ties with the EU. So Starry is not saying anything that any other successor would be doing differently. So it's all tonedeaf to the general public. It's an internal Labour Party issue, but until somebody actually pulls the trigger politically or is able to force the issue, the prime minister is behind that big black door there.

[00:24:12]He's hunkering down. He's not coming out. He's staying there for the next 24 hours until the king turns up tomorrow with a king speech that has been written by the prime minister that the prime minister obviously wants to be delivered, which will hopefully be the reset moment for his premiership. Uh, and let's see how that goes. The prime minister is not going anywhere today.

[00:24:30]Okay, Charlie.