Is it time for Starmer to go? New poll deepens labour unease

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Fresh polling of labour members show that several leading party figures are now preferred to Starmer in leadership contests. Its left some asking if he can hang on in the New Year.

Transcript

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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