Starmer's exit? It's not if or when ...but how bloody

KEIR Starmer’s foolish attempt to smoke out his rivals backfired so badly that his only choice now is whether he wants a quick or slow political death. The Prime Minister is one of the most unpopular in history with voters but is also widely disliked by his party.

- Sam Lister Deputy Editor

Rachel Reeves takes a selfie with the PM but the focus has been on No.10's drama

Some Labour figures are calling for his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, to be sacked for the damaging briefings to journalists that fuelled this crisis. That might buy Starmer a little time but it will not keep him in office.

Starmer is McSweeney's invention. He picked Starmer, not the other way round. Without his chief of staff telling him what to think and how to behave, there is even less to this Prime Minister than meets the eye.

Even if he brought in a new hot shot team, the rot has set in so badly that it is now unsalvageable.

Starmer promised stability and integrity but he detonated an unexploded bomb by allowing Health Secretary Wes Streeting to be attacked as a plotter from within No.10. Everyone knew the bomb was there and was tiptoeing around it, which is not a great place for a Prime Minister to be.

But that was a far better option than blowing it up two weeks before a Budget that is going to be one of the biggest assaults on the striving classes in recent memory.

It left Downing Street engulfed in utter chaos and complete panic.