Labour’s union backers are ready to oust Sir Keir Starmer if the May elections are a disaster, one boss has said.
Steve Wright, the general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union – which is affiliated to the party – said the Prime Minister was on his ‘last chance’.
Asked whether all 11 of the Labour-affiliated trade unions could tell the PM it was time to go if the locals go badly, he told the House magazine: ‘I think so.’
His intervention will come to a blow to the PM who sparked civil war after refusing to allow Andy Burnham‘s bid to return to Parliament.
Andrea Egan – the head of the UK’s biggest union Unison – has also sent a warning to the PM after he blocked the Greater Manchester Mayor.
It comes after scores of Labour MPs raised concerns over the move in letters to the chair of the party’s ruling body.
In his interview, Mr Wright said that the party had made ‘a lot of own goals’, including initially refusing to scrap the two-child benefit cap.
He said Reform UK was the ‘real threat’, adding: ‘I want to see Labour in a position to fight that off. And I’m not sure who’s best to do that at the moment.’
Labour’s union backers are ready to oust Sir Keir Starmer (pictured in London this week) if the May elections are a disaster, one boss has said
It comes after the Prime Minister sparked civil war after refusing to allow Andy Burnham’s bid to return to Parliament (Pictured: Burnham this week)
The firefighter, who was newly elected as general secretary last year, added: ‘I want to see this Labour government deliver. I don’t really care who does it, I’ll be honest.’
‘No one liked the ever-revolving door of No 10 when Conservatives were in, did they? So, there is a benefit to keeping someone in position as long as they’re delivering and listening.
‘There’s hope. We’ll see what happens in May, won’t we?’
He added that he would not disaffiliate his union from the party despite its disagreements, adding it was ‘best placed within the Labour Party’.
However, he criticised Sir Keir over the decision to block Mr Burnham’s bid to fight the Gorton and Denton by-election.
‘Why not allow Andy Burnham into the selection? My view is, he’s a good politician. He’s done a decent job in Manchester,’ he said.
It came after the Greater Manchester Mayor said Sir Keir had refused to speak to him ahead of the decision to block him.
‘I did ask to speak to the Prime Minister because I wanted to assure him… that I wasn’t coming in to undermine him or the government, I was coming in to see if I could contribute,’ he said in his first major interview with BBC Radio Manchester.
‘We had a conversation on Monday. It was a fair exchange, we both said how we felt and I was glad to have that conversation and a chance to say how I felt.
‘But I would have preferred to speak in advance of the decision to assure him of what I was trying to do.
‘I think it could have created a more positive path for everybody, including the prime minister and the government.’
He also rejected the decision to block him on the grounds of the cost of fighting a mayoral election, adding that he’d ‘never had any support from the party’ in his previous campaigns.
Sir Keir cited the high cost of fighting off Reform in a Manchester mayoral election as a key reason for blocking Mr Burnham.
But Mr Burnham said: ‘I would have pointed out to them I’ve never had any support from the party in the three mayoral elections I’ve fought, so the Greater Manchester mayoral election has never been a great expense. I’ve never had support in fighting it.’
He added that he was in the ‘bet position to beat Reform’ and that had he won, ‘I think we could have pushed them back’.
The by-election to replace former Labour MP Andrew Gwynne is expected to take place on February 26.
Mr Gwynne was suspended by Labour last year after The Mail on Sunday uncovered a series of offensive WhatsApp messages he had sent.
The once-safe Labour seat is now thought to be a three-way marginal between Labour, Reform and the Greens.
