Susannah Rayner

SHOULD KEIR STARMER RESIGN? By @AndrewMarr9 "As so often in these political crises, the final decision about the future of the Prime Minister rests not with his media critics, his grandstanding enemies in politics, the analysed intricacies of a fiddly Whitehall plot – or, indeed, with the voters. All these groups will have their time. But there are only two people who will make the final decision. One is the person who shaves Keir Starmer’s chin in the morning, brushes his teeth and drinks his coffee. The other, perhaps more important, is a Labour-supporting lawyer called Victoria Starmer. She knows the almost impossible pressures of the job and the pain, frustration and anger her husband increasingly feels. Once this crisis is over, there is an urgent conversation to be had about whether we have made the job of leading Britain impossible – loading too many problems onto too flimsy a centre – whether we are talking about Tory, Labour or in the future, perhaps, Reform politicians. That’s for another day. For now, let’s look at the case for Starmer deciding to go. However strange it might seem to say so right now, Peter Mandelson’s vetting is a side issue. As a people we face horrendous problems lack of growth, threats from abroad, lack of hope and self-belief. Starmer did well to keep us out of the Iran war but, across the rest of the picture, his government isn’t working." Read more from our editor at large: newstatesman.com/politics/westm…