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Today in Focus

Starmer clings on after election disaster - The Latest

Today in Focus

The Guardian

News, Daily News

4.65.9K Ratings

🗓️ 11 May 2026

⏱️ 12 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Keir Starmer appears to have staved off an immediate leadership challenge but MPs are still calling for him to set out a timetable for his resignation. So can he cling on or has he run out of road? Lucy Hough speaks to senior political correspondent Peter Walker. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus

Transcript

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0:00.0

This is The Guardian.

0:10.6

If Labour messed this up, then the chances are we have a Nigel Farage government.

0:15.1

I know that people are frustrated, and some people frustrated with me.

0:22.9

Kirstarmer promised a gesture, but it wasn't a holiday to the Bald Eves it was like a 399 bunch of roses from the garage down the road

0:27.2

for a lot of labour and peace something needs to change the question is what and when this kind

0:32.7

of whole game theory that a lot of what you do depends on what other people do and it's

0:36.2

very very hard to predict very fast moving we're still in this deadlock really. Kirstama is fighting for his political

0:42.3

survival as a make-or-break speech fails to calm mutinous MPs and calls grow for him to go by

0:49.0

September. From The Guardians today in Focus, this is the latest with me, Lucy Hoff.

0:56.3

I'm joined by Peter Walker, our senior political correspondent.

1:00.0

Thanks for dialing in from Westminster, Peter, on a very dramatic and fast-moving day and a very dramatic weekend in the wake of...

1:07.9

I mean, dramatic today, up to a point, much as Kirstamo manages drama, but yes.

1:12.5

Yes, yes, that's a fair point.

1:14.6

But nonetheless, Labour is sort of mopping up the catastrophe of the loss of nearly

1:18.9

1,500 seats last week in the local elections.

1:22.1

An unexpected leadership challenge yesterday from Labour MP, West and then a make or break speech

1:30.1

by the Prime Minister this morning in London to the public but predominantly I think it's

1:35.2

safe to say to his MPs effectively asking them not to sack him and to give him a little

1:40.3

more time. Give us a rundown of the state of play. We're talking at about half

1:44.3

two on Monday. To an extent a state of play is largely where we were, you know, where we have

1:51.1

been in the days since the elections, which weren't so bad for Labour on Thursday.

1:55.6

There are a lot of Labour MPs who are very, very, very peeved with the way things are

...

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