Keir Starmer claims his Labour party is “united”. Sir Keir made the somewhat deluded statement – to much amusement – as questions over his own future reached fever pitch six days ago.
But it’s plain to see that he is leading a very dis-united Labour party. To use an analogy the football-loving Prime Minister knows well – he’s lost the dressing room.
When a football manager no longer has the confidence of the players, his time is usually up.
And that could very well be the case with the Labour party with potential rivals gnashing their teeth for a post-Budget or post-May elections leadership challenge.
Whether he can see it or not, Sir Keir’s “dressing room” is split into four camps.
Shabana Maymood (Image: Getty)
Blue Labour
Spearheaded by woman of the moment Shabana Mahmood.
The Home Secretary has made quite the impact since she took over from Yvette Cooper.
Her hardline approach to tackling the asylum and small boats crisis is more aligned with public opinion than many in the Labour party.
And her simple, no-nonsense rhetoric, resonates with Left-wing voters, even telling Nigel Farage to “sod-off”.
Her name cropped up as a leadership rival for Sir Keir when No 10 and the top of the Labour party went into meltdown last week.
If her asylum plans work then Ms Mahmood’s star will continue to rise.
Wes Streeting (Image: Getty)
Liberal right
Wes Streeting was seen as the bogeyman among some Labour circles during last week’s fake/failed coup.
The Health Secretary has made no secret of his ambition to lead the Labour party one day but he very robustly denied he was plotting against Sir Keir now.
But Streeting isn’t shy of making his opinions known, using Health Questions to call for the recognition of Palestine during the summer.
There have been other attention-grabbing interventions too, leading to speculation that he’s on manoeuvres.
The Liberal right is perhaps the biggest of the four splinter groups with Streeting very much its talisman.
