Keir Starmer is facing more mutiny in his own ranks today as the Labour deputy leadership frontrunner lashed out at ‘mistakes and unforced errors’.
Lucy Powell, dismissed by the Prime Minister in a hasty reshuffle less than two weeks ago, cautioned in a frank interview that the public does not perceive the government as being ‘on their side’.
The former Commons Leader is the favourite to take the key post vacated by Angela Rayner when she quit over her tax affairs. A poll this week showed Ms Powell streets ahead of Downing Street’s de facto candidate, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson.
The latest broadside from critics comes as Sir Keir desperately tries to steady the ship after firing Lord Mandelson as US ambassador over his emails to Jeffrey Epstein.
There are claims that 10 MPs have told party whips they have lost confidence in Sir Keir to lead them – although the scale of unrest suggests the numbers could be higher.
Lucy Powell, who was sacked by the PM in a panicky reshuffle less than a fortnight ago, warned in a brutal interview that the public does not feel the government is ‘on their side’
The latest broadside from critics comes as Sir Keir desperately tries to steady the ship after firing Lord Mandelson as US ambassador over his emails to Jeffrey Epstein
Ms Powell looks like becoming a lightning rod for anger against the premier, with Labour conference at the end of this month expected to be dominated by questions about his future. Members set to decide between Ms Powell and Ms Phillipson by the end of October.
Speaking on the BBC’s Political Thinking with Nick Robinson podcast, Ms Powell said she had viewed herself as a ‘shop steward’ for MPs as Commons Leader.
But she swiped that she had been axed by Sir Keir because she had not been giving ‘feedback people wanted to hear’.
‘I know I’m not really in the in-crowd, and I don’t really sort of play some of the parlour games,’ she said.
‘I had fed back things that weren’t, with hindsight – maybe I thought I was doing the job I was supposed to be doing – but maybe that wasn’t feedback people wanted to hear.’
She insisted she does not want to be back in the Cabinet if she wins the election.
Ms Powell said Labour should be backing a ‘fairer economy that works in the interests of the many and not the few’.
‘I think part of what’s gone wrong is that people have lost sense of what those values are and whose side we are governing,’ she said.
‘When you look at our many achievements and the many things that we have been doing, whether that’s getting the waiting list down, or more NHS appointments, or some of the legislation that we brought in the Employment Rights Bill, or the renationalisation or the public ownership of railways – we’re taking on the vested interests in service of the many.
‘But yes, some of the mistakes we’ve made, or some of the unforced errors, have given a sense that we’re not on the side of ordinary people.’
Ms Powell stressed that those mistakes had been ‘admitted along the way’ because policies such as the winter fuel allowance cut had been reversed.
The Manchester Central MP also played down rumours that she is a ‘stalking horse’ for Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham – often seen as a rival to Sir Keir.
‘You’ve got two strong women standing in a in an open and transparent contest,’ she said.
A poll this week showed Ms Powell streets ahead of Downing Street ‘s de facto candidate, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson
‘And instead of talking about the two strong women, everybody’s talking about this being a sort of proxy for war between two men, which quite honestly, I find kind of sexist, but it’s also completely wrong.’
Launching her own bid for the deputy leadership previously, Ms Phillipson urged Labour to remain united to win a second term in government.
‘I won’t pretend this government hasn’t made mistakes – I’ve been first to admit it’ she said.
‘But we can’t afford to look inwards – to go back to bad old days of divided Labour Party and open old wounds.
‘If we turn against each other only one person will win – Nigel Farage – but millions more will lose.’
