00:00A new poll of Labour members has raised fresh questions about Sir Keir Starmer's leadership,
00:06with several figures now preferred in head-to-head contests,
00:10and more than half wanting a new leader before the next election.
00:15Keir Starmer has been very unlucky in terms of being Prime Minister.
00:20It's probably a job that when he came into Parliament not that many years ago,
00:24he would never have dreamed of having.
00:25Let's face it, very few ever make it to the top.
00:28But he was lucky insofar as, of course, after the 2019 general election
00:35when Boris Johnson promised to get Brexit done, which of course he did,
00:39but that's another story.
00:41Jeremy Corbyn presided for a dreadful defeat.
00:43They needed someone new.
00:45Keir Starmer seemed to be the man to do it.
00:46He's seen as very managerial, a technocrat, but no ideology,
00:50and I think that's the thing that's really catching him out.
00:53He's not somebody who speaks with a great deal of passion.
00:56He doesn't have a long-term commitment.
00:58I mean, he's not done it on the stump like the Jeremy Corbyns of old,
01:01but he hasn't got the charisma of, and dare I sort of mention,
01:05somebody like Andy Burnham, who's tipped as a successor.
01:07But nonetheless, he's got there.
01:10He got the sort of the loveless majority in the sort of the election last year.
01:13And therefore, of course, he was supposed to sort of bring change.
01:17That is not patently happening.
01:18And dare I say it, he inherited the mess from the previous administration.
01:22Behind the headlines, the polling reflects deeper worries inside Labour
01:27about direction and delivery.
01:30Starmer says he needs more time.
01:32But falling ratings, internal criticism,
01:35and a tough budget ahead have sharpened doubts.
01:39People don't have that confidence, and I think he's losing confidence
01:42amongst the electorate, and the opinion polls indicate if there were an election,
01:46Labour will be trounced at the election and lose loads of seats
01:49and sort of, you know, be probably sort of third, fourth, maybe even fifth in the pecking order.
01:54So, big problems.
01:55The issue is, of course, how it's going to happen,
01:58and under the sort of Labour Party rules,
02:00there would have to be 80 odds of MPs from the Parliamentary Labour Party
02:04who will get together and replace him.
02:06But who might that be?
02:08There are various names sort of touted at the moment.
02:10We're treating, of course, he's having a good time.
02:11He was the target last week.
02:14And, of course, then we have sort of Shibana Mahmood,
02:17the new Muslim Home Secretary.
02:19It's really difficult.
02:20As to whether his days are over,
02:22they certainly sort of look very numbered.
02:24And, unfortunately, I think it's probably going to be the local elections
02:27that will sort of really do for him, if not before.
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