Starmer faces mounting pressure to step aside for Burnham

Talk inside the Labour Party is shifting fast toward replacing Keir Starmer. The prime minister is at Chequers with his wife while advisers say his exit looks increasingly likely.

Andy Burnham is the name most often mentioned. The Greater Manchester mayor has shown he can win against Reform and remains popular with voters. Dozens of MPs are ready to back him, and his backers say he is the figure most likely to lift the party's standing.

Burnham served as health secretary, culture secretary and a Treasury minister. He also ran the Makerfield by-election campaign and is seen as someone who can connect with the public.

Starmer's position has weakened after more than a dozen policy reversals, several resignations and the row over Lord Mandelson's appointment. Labour suffered heavy defeats in the 2025 and 2026 elections and lost control in Wales.

On Friday the prime minister told reporters he would fight a challenge. Some of his allies still say he plans to run and have begun lining up donors and office space. Several sources said Starmer believes he could beat Burnham after watching the mayor's recent television appearances.

Most of the party now assumes Burnham would win comfortably. Cabinet ministers who once backed Starmer are urging him not to stand and risk humiliation. One source said it would be "nuts" to think the prime minister could prevail.

Questions remain over how Starmer will respond and whether a contest will be held. Former minister Jess Phillips told the BBC that any candidate should face "the rigour of at least some manner of contest."

Some MPs also worry about the precedent of removing a leader after a single by-election. Burnham would lack a public mandate without a general election, and there is concern that the same process could be used again if results do not improve.

With roughly 100 MPs now calling for Starmer to go and cabinet support fading, one senior figure predicted he will conclude this weekend that he cannot hold the government together and will have to resign.