Labour MPs Are Ready to See Starmer Defeated in May's Elections After His 13th U-Turn

THESE are my principles – and if you don’t like them . . . well, I have others.

So joked US comic Groucho Marx, but they might yet be the words engraved on political epitaph.

Tuesday saw Sir Keir Starmer execute no less than his 13th U-turn since becoming Prime MinisterCredit: Getty Some Labour MPs now want the PM to be thrashed in May’s electionsCredit: Getty

Tuesday saw our Prime Minister ­execute no less than

Such is the dizzying rollcall of rowbacks in 18 short months that it is becoming difficult to keep up with what’s in and what’s out.

Maintaining the was a fast commitment until it was jettisoned on the advice of agitator ­ MPs.

until ministers crumbled like oatcakes in the face of backbench fury.

The was inked in the pages of the party’s manifesto until .

But what’s £25billion between friends?

And who can forget the that saw Downing Street deny they were walking back from the ledge, before rushing out a half-baked about-turn.

Wreaked chaos

The remarkable number of policies already sent to the knacker’s yard have now got Labour MPs seriously wondering: will Starmer himself be carted off next?

Those trying to make sense of the ­endless 180s will no doubt point to the down the years as proof that he stands for ­diddly squat.

As one longtime Labour adviser wearily puts it: “Everyone is wondering what we’re actually here to do.”

If not even those at the top of government know what their purpose is, there is not much hope in the rest of us trying to work it out.

It is particularly dangerous given the closest thing Starmer had to a political lodestar at the last election was simply “not being the ”.

Where the ­Conservatives wreaked chaos, Labour would bring calm.

The grown-ups, as we were told, were back in charge.

So what explains the relentless chopping and changing?

Do not underestimate the sheer ­exasperation of many Labour MPs watching powerlessly as their party’s poll share slumps further each month.

The atmosphere in Westminster after the Christmas break has been strange.

It is not the highly charged tinderbox of Tory psychodrama where MPs ­developed an almost insatiable appetite for blood on the carpet.

Instead, the overwhelming outlook from Labour ­people is one of gloomy depression.

Asking an MP or aide their view of the current state of play typically elicits a shrugged “it’s all just a bit s**t isn’t it?”

One says many of their colleagues are now “past caring” about trying to please the current operation because they believe them to be on borrowed time.

Team Starmer wants him to go full Roy Keane

What is striking is that it is not just the usual sceptics who have given up.

MPs say the sequence of U-turns has actively disillusioned the ranks of “Starmtroopers” who stuck with him through thicker times.

Those who once defended every wobble as “pragmatism” now privately admit they no longer know what the PM actually believes or whether he believes in any of it at all.

After giving the bulk of his MPs the cold shoulder in the first half of his premiership, Starmer is now trying to make amends by making overtures.

It might be too ­little, too late. As one despondent newbie MP tells us: “Even if he did suddenly pick up the phone, I know he would be reading off a script and hating every second of it. So what’s the point?”

It has not gone unnoticed that nearly half the party whips are related to ­people in Starmer’s inner circle, leading other MPs to mutter privately about ­nepotism.

Starmer has climbed down from his plans to implement a digital IDCredit: Labour Together

The crushing malaise explains in part why Starmer is being pulled from pillar to post:

The political capital has been spent, and any sense of goodwill evaporated.

So how does Starmer pull himself up from the hole in which he finds ­himself?

Many of the traditional levers used in times of crisis are out of bounds: he is currently too weak to reshuffle his Cabinet, and has already had more Downing Street staff shake-ups than is polite.

Instead Team Starmer wants him to go full Roy Keane — smash into somebody and start an argument. Get stuck in and show you’ve still got fire in the belly.

It is why the , and is now

But such is his enfeebled position that those fights can only be picked with the blessing of the Parliamentary Labour Party.

Many of his MPs now pinpoint Starmer as the problem

Which brings us neatly to , something his MPs have been sounding off over both publicly and in private.

Sensing that Starmer will now cave at the first flicker of rebellion, many sense that his , alongside a looming row on special educational needs (SEND) reforms.

Results ‘catastrophic’

What’s worse, Downing Street is now deliberately dragging its feet on thorny issues for fear of starting a ruckus.

, gender guidance and have all been punted into the long grass.

Some U-turns can be desirable if they are quick, clean and, most importantly, come from a position of strength.

But many of his MPs now pinpoint Starmer as the problem, and think voters have simply made their minds up.

Some are resigned to some sort of leadership challenge after May’s local elections.

Worse, some MPs even hope the results are so catastrophic that he has no option but to throw in the towel.

One tells us: “He is a decent man and if he sees how bad it is, he will do the honourable thing. Nobody in the party thinks he will be the one who leads us into the next General Election.”

Another points to , where the PM is said to have considered his position after Labour’s shock by-election loss, as proof that only a brutal verdict moves the dial.

They say: “The PM almost quit as leader back in 2021. If the results in May are really bad, he will have to reconsider his position.”

So much for not being the Tories . . .