Talk of Starmer staying on to fight is fading - fast

Talk of Starmer staying on to fight is fading - fast Just now Share Save Add as preferred on Google Laura Kuenssberg Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg BBC "We promised people we weren't going to do this." There is exasperation in the voice of a long time Labour adviser. But as every hour passes, it is more likely the UK will soon have its seventh prime minister in 10 years. Talk of Sir Keir Starmer fighting is fading, his exit seems more likely as the weekend goes on. The prime minister is at his country retreat, Chequers, spending time with his wife. The man coming for his job, Andy Burnham, is spending the weekend with his family, away from home too. The reasons for Labour to switch leader are compelling. Andy Burnham looks like a winner. He has shown he can beat Reform, who until this moment have seemed a deadly threat to Labour. He is popular in the country, compared to most politicians at least. There are swathes of MPs eager to back him and his brand, believing he's the one who can improve the party's grim position. "He's an instinctive guy – that's his great talent," said one source. Reuters He's been successful and highly visible as the Mayor of Greater Manchester, known just as Andy everywhere he goes, one of his backers tells me. He's no stranger to government either, having served as health secretary, culture secretary, and as a Treasury minister years ago. And most of all, Burnham's shown in the Makerfield by-election campaign he has that valuable talent in politics – a capacity to make people feel good. Labour in Westminster has forgotten what that's like. There have been more than a dozen big U-turns. Resignations. The mess over Lord Mandelson's job. And after dreadful election results in 2025 and 2026, wipe-out in Wales. Starmer has seemed like a loser to many in his own party. It is not even two years since his massive win at the general election. But the political perception that he has an appeal to voters? Brutally, that's long gone. Reuters On Friday, the prime minister was still arguing to the cameras that he would fight if Burnham challenges him, refusing to acknowledge that is not an "if", it's a "when". Even privately some of his backers were still adamant he would run, talking of donors who've given money to run a campaign and office spaces being found. One source claimed his conversations with cabinet ministers in the afternoon were not about whether he had the authority to stay in office, but the arguments he'd make in a leadership race. Several sources told me Starmer really does believe he could beat Burnham in a leadership contest, and concluded that a fortnight ago after watching him on BBC Question Time on a Thursday, then failing to explain the borrowing and spending rules in a Newsnight interview on the Friday. Reuters A government insider said: "On Saturday he phoned his closest allies and said, 'I'm sure I could win.'" But the widespread assumption this weekend in the party is that Burnham would beat him hands down,