Having a mayor: Starmer's struggles with his devolved leaders

The prime minister has faced public defiance from Labour's two most prominent mayors

Andy Burnham and Keir Starmer
Andy Burnham made public criticisms of the Labour government policies without specifically naming Keir Starmer or Rachel Reeves
(Image credit: Hollie Adams/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Could there really be a push for new Labour leadership so soon after a crushing general election win? "Inside Labour there might not be a vacancy but there is always a contest," said The New Statesman's political editor George Eaton. And the government's declining approval ratings "means this is even truer than usual".

Starmer's troubles have opened the door for others to begin "positioning for a post-Starmer world", said Eaton. That includes Labour's two most prominent devolved leaders, the mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, and London's mayor, Sadiq Khan, who have made recent interventions that pile more pressure on Starmer.

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Richard Windsor is a freelance writer for The Week Digital. He began his journalism career writing about politics and sport while studying at the University of Southampton. He then worked across various football publications before specialising in cycling for almost nine years, covering major races including the Tour de France and interviewing some of the sport’s top riders. He led Cycling Weekly’s digital platforms as editor for seven of those years, helping to transform the publication into the UK’s largest cycling website. He now works as a freelance writer, editor and consultant.