An exasperated Bridget Phillipson speaking to Laura Kuenssberg:
“We’ve had a real kicking. Keir knows that, I know that… I’m not going to come on here and say that there aren’t big and serious national issues that we have to address. We can, and we will. But I just do not believe that the message we should take from these elections is that we ought to spend time as a party [arguing] amongst ourselves… we do need to tell a better story, we do need to deliver faster…”
Asked if she thought Starmer should carry on as Prime Minister into the next election, Phillipson said yes. Her colleagues don’t seem to agree…
Labour MP Catherine West on Sky News:
“What I want the Cabinet to do is to close themselves into a room today and come up with somebody who they can all get behind, which would mean we wouldn’t have to have a leadership election.
“And if that can happen, then we can have a very quiet transition without upsetting anybody, without having to go to all of the members.”
“Once I’ve listened carefully to what [Starmer] says, I will be demanding a timetable for an orderly transition…”
She added on BBC News “we have a problem, we have to move quickly”. When the herd moves…
Two former Labour leaders back in No10 with jobs today:
Gordon Brown as Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on Global Finance: “The PM has committed to boosting the country’s security and resilience. In this role, Gordon Brown will advise on how global finance cooperation can help to achieve this.”
Harriet Harman as Prime Minister’s Adviser on Women and Girls: “The PM committed to do more to eradicate structural misogyny and achieve a cultural change. This appointment will help to accelerate progress.”
How will it land…
Gordon Brown sold 12,712,000 ounces of gold at a historic market low for revenue of $3.5 billion.
Sold today at $4,721.64 per ounce that would net $60 billion.
Or £44.05 billion.
Rolling list:
This week 914,531 visitors visited 875,335 times viewing 885,121 pages. The most read and shared stories in order of popularity were:
You’re either in front of Guido, or you are behind…
The results as they are this morning:
Ed Miliband eventually came out with a statement – not explicitly backing the PM – after most of the Cabinet supported Starmer’s continuation in office:
“These are devastating election results for Labour and I’m deeply sorry for all of those colleagues who have lost their seats. Voters are making clear their anger at a broken economic and political status quo. As Keir has said, we must go further in delivering the mandate for change that Labour won in 2024 — and show how we will answer the call for change in our country.”
The Times says electoral turnout was 10% higher this time than is usual for a set of locals. Deputy Leader Lucy Powell was asked about a leadership challenge this morning:
“I don’t think it should happen and I don’t want it to happen… we don’t do hostile takeovers in the Labour party.”
The Greens did worse than expected. Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake told the BBC this morning the Tories had a “difficult night” but had some “really good highlights”:
“If you look behind the trends, behind the headlines, we hoped to narrow the gap between Reform, particularly in England – that’s exactly what we’ve done.”
Starmer replacement plotters are planning a Burnham coronation to take place in some months. The long period of recriminations begins, apart from in Reform…
Starmer loyalist and Housing Secretary Steve Reed told Sky News that Starmer should not be replaced:
“We saw what the Tories did. They were in power for 14 years, and after 2016, I think we had nine education secretaries, seven chancellors, and five Prime Ministers. Doomscrolling through Prime Ministers doesn’t resolve the problem.”