Keir Starmer’s deputies are starting to quit. Some are urging him to ‘do the right thing for the country’

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer insisted Tuesday that he has no intention of resigning as calls grew louder within his Labour Party for him to step down and some junior members of his government quit in protest. Starmer tried to shore up support within his Cabinet following a feverish few days in the wake of hefty losses for the Labour Party in local elections last week, which if repeated in a national election that has to be held by 2029 would see it overwhelmingly ejected from power. Though no Cabinet member has quit or publicly stated the prime minister should step aside for a change in leader, the resignations of several junior ministers stoked speculation Starmer could suffer the fate of Boris Johnson in 2022 when dozens of ministers quit en masse and forced his departure. While more than 100 members of Parliament signed a letter saying it was “no time for a leadership contest,” about 90 others said Starmer should stand down or at least set out a timetable for his departure. That’s not enough to trigger a leadership contest, though, as no candidate has issued a challenge to the prime minister. Under Labour party rules, a fifth of its lawmakers in the House of Commons, or 81 members, must publicly give their backing to a single candidate for a leadership election to take place. First resignations On Tuesday, several junior ministers, some of whom were elected for the first time in Labour’s landslide election victory in July 2024, resigned and urged Starmer to do the same. Miatta Fahnbulleh, minister of housing, communities and local government, was the first to quit, urging Starmer “to do the right thing for the country.” She was followed by Jess Phillips, the safeguarding minister and a prominent member of the Labour Party. In her resignation letter, she described Starmer as a “good man fundamentally” but unable to make bold changes. “I know you care deeply, but deeds, not words are what matter,” Phillips said. “I’m not sure we are grasping this ra