‘Common knowledge’ in Parliament that Labour MPs are plotting to get rid of Starmer, says Barry Gardiner

LABOUR MP Barry Gardiner said it is “common knowledge” in Parliament that Labour MPs are discussing how to get rid of the Prime Minister.

On Wes Streeting’s denial that he is planning a leadership challenge, Gardiner told GB News: “It’s certainly the first time I’ve ever seen a Cabinet minister saying that he’s got full confidence in his boss. It’s usually the other way round.

“But we’re in a very poor state when Number 10 feels that it has to defend itself against some putative challenge, and the chief person they’re accusing of challenging saying, ‘no, no, of course I’m not doing anything’.

“I don’t believe either of them, actually, because Number 10 is saying that the Prime Minister knew nothing about it and Wes Streeting saying that he knew nothing about any plots against the Prime Minister. It’s common knowledge in Parliament.

“I think the public look at this and they say, ‘oh, for goodness sake, stop talking to yourselves and get on with running the country’. Because they look at this and in Parliament, everybody knows that there are groups of MPs who’ve been saying we’re really worried, the polls are low. What are we going to do? Does the Prime Minister need to go? Who’s going to challenge him? When’s it going to happen?

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“The idea that this isn’t happening and that we can all come out here and say, ‘no, no, no, of course, everything’s fine at the gasworks’ is just ridiculous. There has to be a bit of honesty about what’s going on.

“But fundamentally, this is now a job for the Prime Minister, get a grip on those around him, right? And that is the essential thing here, because we know that there – I think it was West Streeting this morning [who] called it a toxic culture around Number 10 that has to go.

“We have to have a government that starts listening, not just listening to its own backbenchers and the wider Labour Party, but listening to the country, listening to the concerns that people have, and then saying, ‘look, these are the ways in which we propose to address them’.”

Asked if it felt like the end of a parliament, Gardiner said: “It feels much more like three years ago at the end of the Tory party. But yes, I do, because he’s the Prime Minister, and he has a huge parliamentary majority, and this is the ridiculous thing.

“One thing we need to learn from Donald Trump is, if you’ve got power at that scale, use it. Now, I don’t like the way Donald Trump does use it, but I would like to see the Prime Minister exert authority, set a clear direction for the government, and then pursue it relentlessly. That’s what government is about.”

He added: “We saw it the weekend, Rachel Reeves go out on the airwaves and effectively say to people, we’re probably going to get rid of the two-child benefit cap. Less than a year ago, seven of my good colleagues were suspended from the party for precisely saying that we should get rid of the two-child benefit cap.

“That is the sort of incoherence and U-turn that the public say, ‘well, who are you? What are you actually trying to achieve?’ That’s why the Prime Minister has to get a grip, has to set a course, set a direction, and then the party’s got to come around and deliver it.

“At the moment, they’re so concerned with fighting amongst themselves. Look at what’s happened with Number 10. We’ve had attacks from number 10 on Angela Rayner, Bridget Phillipson, Louise Haigh, the list goes on. And I think again, Wes Streeting said, maybe it was this morning or last night, ‘well, at least it’s on a man this time’, the attack on him.

“But you cannot create a circling of the wagons to defend yourself. What they’re actually doing is a circular firing squad. They’re shooting at each other.

“Let’s start facing outwards. Let’s start talking to the country. Let’s start setting a clear direction for government, and get on and deliver. What I want to see is a successful Labour government.”

Gardiner said no one wants to take the top job before the local elections in May next year: “What’s happened last night is that Number 10 have come out, and they’ve said, ‘okay, if you’re going to do it do it now’ – and the reason they’ve said that is because they know that the plotting is going on, and so they’re trying to cauterise it.

“They’re trying to say, stand up and deliver, or else shut up…but they knew very well that MPs were talking about after the Budget and after the local elections next year. But of course, nobody wants to take over before the local elections next year if they think they’re going to be bad.

“But it’s not a joke because the public out there are going, these are our lives, these are our wage levels, these are our jobs, these are our kids.”

He added: “The idea that people don’t realise that plotting is going on and that they’re not prepared to say it – it’s a facade, and it’s the facade that politicians play. But actually, I think the country is sick of it. They just want us to get on and focus on them and not on each other.”