Did Keir Starmer just make a very bad situation even worse?
In the wake of huge losses for Labour in local elections, Keir Starmer gave a speech intended to inspire MPs and party members – but has he just made a bad situation even worse for himself?
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What’s the story?
It's been a while since Catherine West was in the headlines – not since she was sacked after voting for Brexit in 2016, despite a Labour Party whip to vote remain.
But as the first Labour MP to challenge Keir Starmer, the MP for Hornsey and Friern Barnet has been making waves again – later changing her call to one for an “orderly transition” for someone else to become leader.
And it may be that she has put those wheels in motion, with her actions "changing the dynamic" of Starmer's speech.
"What Catherine did turned it into something that really meant everyone was looking to see whether he would absolutely nail it, reinvent, reinvigorate," says Emily Maitlis.
"But it was incredibly similar to every other speech he's ever made.
"We did hear him say he took responsibility a lot, but it didn't take us on to new ground."
What did Starmer say?
Starmer's speech – and West's actions – followed a (predicted) wipeout in local elections, in which Labour lost 1,496 councillors across the UK – most to Reform.
Knowing some of his own MPs now have their sights set on kicking him out of 10 Downing Street, Starmer addressed the UK in a speech, in which he said he intended to remain in the job in order to prevent the UK "plunging into chaos", as the previous Tory government did.
Starmer described his political opponents as "very dangerous" and made a direct attack on Reform leader Nigel Farage, describing him as a "grifter" and a "chancer".
"He said Brexit would make us richer – wrong. He said it would reduce migration – wrong," Starmer said.
"He took Britain for a ride, and unlike the Tories, he just fled the scene."
What did Starmer get right?
The News Agents believe Starmer was right to finally take the fight to Nigel Farage – even if it did take the loss of 1,500 council seats to make him do it.
"One thing he did get right was to attach blame for Brexit to Farage in a way that hasn't been done before," says Emily.
"It reminds people that Farage said Brexit would make people richer, and it didn't. It reminds people that Farage said it would bring down immigration, and it didn't.
"One of the problems Labour has had is not pinning Brexit firmly enough onto Farage and Reform."
The PM said that the UK could head down a "very dark path" under a potential Reform government.
Where he may have really messed up…
But picking a fight with Farage may not be enough – and Starmer's speech may have opened eyes to his own flaws, rather than galvanised his role as leader.
While Starmer may have identified some of the problems in his party – namely the lack of any real change for the better in the country or people's lives since Labour came to power – he offered little in the way of solution.
Starmer said Labour needed to be bolder, to place Labour at the heart of Britain – but his words fell flat.
"You're sitting there scratching your head, asking, where is the move? Where is the bold?" Emily says.
"We want to hear about what's going to change now. We want to hear the urgency, the change, the move, the massive idea that is going to get us to the next place.
"And I think that was still missing from the speech."
Lewis Goodall says what Starmer said was right – that politics in the late 2020s is a very different place to what it once was.
But in pointing that out, he has left himself exposed, and vulnerable.
"The stakes are high, and we could be going down a very dark path, but ironically enough, in setting it out in that way, he has reminded his own MPs of precisely the reason why so many are minded to remove him," Lewis says.
More than 50 MPs have made a call for Starmer to be replaced, with The News Agents predicting there will be many more behind closed doors who do not feel able to go public.
"They agree with the analysis entirely, but they don't agree with the diagnosis that he is the man to fight that fight," Lewis adds.
"A lot of Labour MPs agree with the Prime Minister, they know that change can't be incremental. They agree with him that they don't need spreadsheets, they need a story. But they see a man and a leader who himself is more spreadsheet than story.
"He himself has set a challenge that he probably can't meet."