LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will stand if a leadership contest is triggered, a senior minister said Sunday, after media reported Starmer had contacted key backers insisting he would run in any race.
This came after popular northern mayor Any Burnham, who is standing in a key by-election this month, said last week he would participate in any leadership race, although none has yet been triggered.
Starmer “has been absolutely clear — were there to be a contest — you need 81 signatures (of MPs) to launch a contest — he will be part of that contest,” Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy told Sky News on Sunday.
The prime minister would automatically be included in any leadership ballot if he wanted to participate.
The BBC and The Sun newspaper reported Sunday, citing unnamed MPs, that Starmer has been calling key supporters this weekend to say that if there is a contest he would “fight it”.
The Sun reported: “Sir Keir has hardened his position and is hellbent on running against Mr Burnham.”
Labour veteran Burnham is standing to become an MP again in a June 18 vote in Makerfield in northwestern England. If elected, he would be able to take part in a leadership contest.
Burnham said on a BBC talkshow Thursday that he would seek to challenge Starmer if he won the by-election and if a race is triggered.
He said former health minister Wes Streeting, who resigned last month with an open letter expressing no confidence in Starmer, “seems to have launched a leadership contest. So if that is running, I would seek to join it.”
The prime minister has repeatedly rejected calls to resign and insisted he wants to stay on as leader of the Labour party after winning a general election in 2024.
Starmer told LBC radio station on Friday “I’m not going to walk away”, adding he did not want to “plunge our country into the chaos of a leadership fight”.