Quite right!: Starmer’s last stand
Best of the Spectator
The Spectator
4.3 • 825 Ratings
🗓️ 12 May 2026
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week: Keir Starmer’s leadership is in crisis. As pressure builds on the Prime Minister, Michael and Madeline ask whether Starmer can survive the rebellion now gathering pace in his own party.
They discuss the runners and riders who could replace him, from Wes Streeting and Angela Rayner to Andy Burnham – and the risks each would pose for Labour. Could Burnham find a safe seat? Would Streeting trigger open warfare with the left? And would a change of leader mean anything beyond a change of name?
Produced by Oscar Edmondson.
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Transcript
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| 0:36.0 | Hello and welcome to The Spectators Podcast, Quite Right. I'm Michael Gove, the editor of The Spectator's podcast, Quite Right. |
| 0:39.2 | I'm Michael Gove, the editor of The Spectator, and this week we'll be looking at the turmoil in the heart of government. |
| 0:45.5 | Can Stama survive? |
| 0:47.7 | What would his demise mean for the other parties? |
| 0:50.5 | And who would Maddie most love to see at the dispatcher? |
| 0:54.2 | British politics has entered a surreal new phase. and who would Maddie most love to see at the dispatch points? |
| 1:01.8 | British politics has entered a surreal new phase. We have Kirstehmus leadership hanging on by a thread. Andy Burnham has returned to London via train a la Lenin Circus 1917. And we've just |
| 1:09.2 | generally got to that phase where you have reporters camped |
| 1:11.8 | outside Downing Street yelling at passing MPs about, you know, if they remain loyal or not. |
| 1:16.8 | How long do you give the Prime Minister? Well, I think it's almost impossible for him to recover |
| 1:21.7 | from a situation like this. But I think that there are at least three scenarios. |
| 1:27.9 | One is that the overwhelming sense that the Labour Party is slipping away compels him to say, right, that's it. |
| 1:36.3 | The second one is that he attempts to restore some sense of order, albeit temporarily, by saying that he will set out a timetable for his |
| 1:45.7 | departure, that he tries to take some control of timing, if not of events. The third is that he |
| 1:51.5 | does say, come and have a go if you think you're hard enough. And that would probably, I think |
| 1:57.2 | probably, precipitate sooner or later a formal leadership election, in which, of |
... |
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