Starmer Appoints Brown and Harman After Labour Election Losses

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer appointed former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown as special envoy on global finance. The move comes as Starmer seeks to bolster his position following heavy election losses for his party.

Downing Street said Starmer also hired former Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman as an adviser on tackling violence against women and girls. Brown and Harman, two influential party figures, met Starmer at Downing Street before the announcements.

Starmer's authority weakened after Friday's poor election results increased pressure on him. Some Labour MPs have called for him to set a timetable for his departure.

Starmer insisted he would not "walk away and plunge the country into chaos." Cabinet members have rallied around him.

Next week, the prime minister plans a major speech and new legislative program to reset his premiership. The appointments of Brown and Baroness Harman indicate his aim to refresh the government.

Brown served as chancellor before becoming prime minister from 2007 to 2010. He led the international response to the 2008 financial crisis.

Downing Street said Starmer committed to boosting the country's security and resilience. Brown will advise on how global finance cooperation can achieve this.

Baroness Harman led the House of Commons during Brown's premiership and served as Labour deputy leader from 2007 to 2015. She will advise Starmer on galvanizing government to deliver for women and girls.

Her role will draw on work with women across Parliament to identify action against misogyny and to create greater opportunity for women in parliamentary and public life, No 10 said.

Starmer posted a video on social media showing him meeting Brown with Chancellor Rachel Reeves, and Baroness Harman in the back garden of 10 Downing Street. "Together, we will build a stronger and fairer Britain," he wrote.

Labour ministers, MPs and officials expressed bafflement at the return of the two veteran figures. While respected, their appointments have sown confusion over how they represent the change Starmer promised.

One normally loyal minister told the BBC: "It's a joke. There is no question to which bringing these two back is the answer."

A Labour MP said: "Not sure voters in Wigan, Wandsworth, Salford or Sunderland voted Reform because they thought we needed more advisers from a different era of Labour politics. I think this shows that Keir doesn't even understand the problem, never mind the solution."

A former Labour adviser said: "Is his plan to combat the notion that he has no ideas to just double down on that and bring in a load of other people to come up with ideas?"

Discontent over the election results has surfaced openly. Up to 30 Labour MPs have publicly said Starmer should resign or outline a process for an orderly leadership transition.

Labour MP Clive Betts told the BBC that Starmer should "step down" in the "not too distant future" for the good of the country and the government. The Sheffield South East MP said voters told him before the elections they might vote Labour but not while Starmer led.

Betts said people "have made their mind up" and he did not think "rebooting and refreshing" would make any difference because the public by and large have stopped listening to Starmer.

Debbie Abrahams, Labour MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth, said she thought Starmer would step down as prime minister in a matter of months. "He has said that he would always put the country first and we must recognise the dangers that we are in now," she said. "On this trajectory it does not look good."