Prime Minister Keir Starmer's team, led by his wife Victoria and key Downing Street aides, mobilises support amid speculation over Labour leadership as Andy Burnham's faltering Newsnight interview fuels calls for Starmer to fight on.
Sir Keir Starmer, usually not a fan of late-night news programmes, made sure to watch a special edition of BBC2's Newsnight last Friday. The episode featured Andy Burnham, the favourite to succeed Starmer as Labour leader, giving his first set-piece interview since confirming he intends to run in a leadership contest if he wins next week's Makerfield by-election.
Even Burnham's most loyal supporters privately admit that the mayor of Greater Manchester's interview with host Victoria Derbyshire was a public relations disaster. Burnham struggled visibly when he could not name the three fiscal rules set by Chancellor Rachel Reeves, which he had pledged to uphold during the by-election campaign. He blustered, saying, 'I'm not going to go through an exam on the fiscal rules.
I know what the fiscal rules are,' yet he failed to articulate even a basic argument for why he would make a better prime minister than Starmer. This stuttering performance by one of Labour's supposed great communicators provided further ammunition for Starmer's most die-hard supporters. Led by the Prime Minister's wife, Victoria, they believe Starmer must fight the 'lightweight' Burnham to the political death.
Lady Starmer, married to the Prime Minister in 2007, is often emotional behind the scenes about attacks on her husband. She has told sceptical Labour MPs at party events: 'You don't see the man I see.
' A senior ministerial source said: 'As you would imagine, there's no one more loyal to Keir than Vic, who's passionate that Keir fights on. She listens to him. They are incredibly close: Keir calls her 'his rock'. They talk all the time about the job.
If she says it's time to go, I'm sure he will. But I'm telling you, she's adamant he must keep going.
' Lady Victoria Starmer has found support in what has become known as the 'No 10 Holy Trinity'. That trio consists of Amy Richards, Downing Street's political director, and Vidhya Alakeson, who became Starmer's joint chief of staff in February after the enforced resignation of the once all-powerful Morgan McSweeney. Jill Cuthbertson, Alakeson's fellow chief of staff, is the third member.
She cut short her maternity leave to stand by Starmer last month when 90 Labour MPs called on him to set a timetable for his exit during the row over No 10's vetting of Lord Mandelson as US ambassador. The three Downing Street aides have also been dubbed the 'Amazonian' home guard. The source added: 'Amy, Vidhya and Jill are as one with Vic that Keir is carrying on.
He won the general election with a landslide and, they think, is not given sufficient credit for it.
' On Monday, dozens of junior and middle-ranking ministers were summoned to No 10 for back-to-back meetings around the Cabinet table. Starmer pledged to them he would fight on if, as expected, Burnham challenges. The Holy Trinity were behind the decision to call these meetings and have also driven Starmer's attempted fightback in recent days.
On Monday, the Prime Minister delivered a speech giving US tech giants a three-month ultimatum to introduce controls preventing children from sending and receiving explicit images on their phones. Next week, he is expected to go further, by announcing an Australia-style ban on social media for under-16s. The source noted: 'Vic is the mother of their teenage son and daughter. Like every mum, she's horrified by what children are being exposed to online.
' Cuthbertson, Richards and Alakeson-all mothers themselves-are also said to be passionate supporters of a social media ban. Starmer's attack on Big Tech, as his advisers expected, prompted a sharp rebuke from the White House, which warned the Prime Minister against imposing restrictions on the likes of Meta (owner of Facebook and Instagram), citing free speech concerns. Far from unwelcome, this intervention was welcomed by Starmer's aides.
'Keir standing up to Washington plays well,' added the source. Amid Starmer's sudden flurry of political activity, the long-awaited Defence Investment Plan, due last autumn, will be published before the Nato summit in Turkey early next month. Billions of pounds will be found from cuts in other budgets-notably transport but not from welfare-as Starmer tries to win favour with the left of his party.
Expect also more talk about forging ever-closer ties with the EU, which is catnip to most Labour MPs, party members, and trade unionists who will decide any future leadership contest
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