{"id":2601109,"date":"2026-05-11T08:53:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T12:53:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/labour-mp-scraps-leadership-challenge-but-demands-starmer-exit-by-september\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T08:54:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T12:54:22","slug":"labour-mp-scraps-leadership-challenge-but-demands-starmer-exit-by-september","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/labour-mp-scraps-leadership-challenge-but-demands-starmer-exit-by-september\/","title":{"rendered":"Labour MP scraps leadership challenge but demands Starmer exit by September"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flabour-mp-scraps-leadership-challenge-but-demands-starmer-exit-by-september%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2601109&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Labor MP Catherine West has canceled her leadership challenge to U.K. Prime Minister keir Starmer, though she urged him to step down by September. After Labour\u2019s heavy defeats in last week\u2019s local elections, West had begun rallying support for a bid to unseat Starmer, but Monday backed off following the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/officials-say-meena-harris-social-media-posts-could-interfere-with-u-s-diplomacy-with-india\/\" title=\"Officials say Meena Harris social media posts could interfere with U.S. diplomacy with India\">prime minister\u2019<\/a>s address-claiming it was \u201ctoo little too late\u201d and that Starmer has failed to inspire hope. In her statement, she emphasized an \u201corderly transition,\u201d signaling she would not proceed with the challenge, and began collecting names of Labour MPs to press for a timetable for choosing a new leader.<\/p>\n<p>With West appearing to step aside, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has become a leading choice, with Angela Rayner and others indicating support. the situation unfolds as <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >starmer faces historically low approval<\/a>, including major losses in Wales and setbacks to both Reform UK and the Green Party.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p>A <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/labour-party\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"2881\">Labour<\/a> minister of parliament canceled her leadership challenge against U.K. Prime Minister <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/keir-starmer\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"3660\">Keir Starmer<\/a> but demanded that he exit his position by September.<\/p>\n<p>The Labour Party has been in crisis mode since last week after it suffered devastating losses in local elections. Over the weekend, Labour MP Catherine West began rallying votes for a leadership challenge, but backed down on Monday after a speech from the prime minister.<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4560447\/how-al-qaeda-repositioned-itself-dominate-central-sahel\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>How al Qaeda repositioned itself to dominate the central Sahel<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4562418\/netanyahu-wants-phase-out-us-aid-this-congress\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Netanyahu says he wants to phase out US aid under this Congress<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4560187\/power-vacuum-al-qaeda-central-sahel\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>How <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/top-u-s-commander-we-must-assume-very-real-possibility-that-we-may-need-to-use-nukes-against-china-russia\/\" title=\"Top U.S. Commander: We Must Assume \u2018Very Real Possibility\u2019 That We May Need To Use Nukes Against China, Russia\">great power competition<\/a> in the central Sahel helped open a vacuum for al Qaeda<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p>\u201cI have listened to the prime minister\u2019s speech this morning. I welcome the renewed energy and ideas. However, I have reluctantly concluded that this morning\u2019s speech was too little too late,\u201d she said in a statement, adding that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republican-jack-ciattarellis-campaign-calls-aps-decision-for-democrat-phil-murphy-irresponsible\/\" title=\"Republican Jack Ciattarelli&#039;s Campaign Calls AP&#039;s Decision for Democrat Phil Murphy &#039;Irresponsible&#039;\">election results showed<\/a> he has \u201cfailed to inspire hope.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>\u201cWhat is best for the party and country now is for an orderly transition,\u201d West continued. \u201cI am hereby giving notice to No 10 that I am collecting names of Labour MPs to call on the prime minister to set a timetable for the election of a new leader in September.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The most notable takeaway from her statement, however, was the subtle communication that she wouldn\u2019t go through with her leadership challenge. Instead of positioning herself as the new leader of Labour, in calling for an \u201corderly transition\u201d and suggesting that Starmer had lost voter confidence, BBC Chief Political Correspondent Henry Zeffman <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/live\/c1m2e4nl1z1t?at_bbc_team=editorial&#038;at_campaign=Social_Flow&#038;at_ptr_name=twitter&#038;at_link_type=web_link&#038;at_link_origin=BBCBreaking&#038;at_link_id=4259B498-4D18-11F1-AD79-F05619E509AA&#038;at_format=link&#038;at_campaign_type=owned&#038;at_medium=social&#038;post=asset%3A7b346c4e-da6b-46d9-afde-a2c32acd50a3#post\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/live\/c1m2e4nl1z1t?at_bbc_team=editorial&#038;at_campaign=Social_Flow&#038;at_ptr_name=twitter&#038;at_link_type=web_link&#038;at_link_origin=BBCBreaking&#038;at_link_id=4259B498-4D18-11F1-AD79-F05619E509AA&#038;at_format=link&#038;at_campaign_type=owned&#038;at_medium=social&#038;post=asset%3A7b346c4e-da6b-46d9-afde-a2c32acd50a3#post\">pointed out<\/a> that she \u201cnow joins a club of a few dozen MPs who have said that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>West has served in parliament since 2015. Her challenge was notable as she hadn\u2019t previously made headlines. The threat over the weekend to force a leadership challenge was the furthest a member of the party had publicly gone, setting up an existential crisis for Starmer\u2019s premiership.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4561121\/two-party-politics-dead-buried-uk-local-election-bloodbath\/\" type=\"post\" id=\"4561121\">TWO-PARTY POLITICS \u2018DEAD AND BURIED\u2019 IN UK AFTER LOCAL ELECTION BLOODBATH<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>With West out of the picture, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has emerged as the most prominent contender for Starmer\u2019s position, with prominent figures such as former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner signaling support.<\/p>\n<p>Starmer is at historically unpopular levels of support after failing to solve several crises gripping the United Kingdom. On Thursday, his party was booted from power in Wales after over a century in power, and saw unparalleled losses to the national populist Reform U.K. and left-wing Green Parties.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Labour minister drops leadership challenge, urges Starmer to step down by September<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2653,"featured_media":2601110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/AP26112527118004.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[33714,33958,43634,79456,37154],"class_list":["post-2601109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-keir-starmer","tag-labour-party","tag-leadership-challenge","tag-parliamentary-news","tag-uk-politics"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/AP26112527118004.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2601109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2653"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2601109"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2601109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2601113,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2601109\/revisions\/2601113"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2601110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2601109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2601109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2601109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}