The Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has said that Sir Keir Starmer has only been given a “stay of execution” following a tumultuous 48 hours on Downing Street.
Badenoch said that Labour Cabinet members are “terrified of losing their own jobs” as it is “only a matter of time” when Starmer will be gone.
Badenoch told Sky News, “I think that all that’s happened is his MPs have given him a stay of execution because they are terrified of losing their own jobs.
His party leader in Scotland, who doesn’t rely on Keir Starmer for his job, said the quiet bit out loud that the prime minister should resign.
“So it is only now a matter of when he goes, not if he goes. His position is clearly untenable and I think that we need to acknowledge the fact that the country is not being governed. Nothing is happening.”
Starmer met with his Cabinet on Tuesday morning hours after the Health Secretary Wes Streeting revealed he shared messages with Peter Mandelson over the lack of “no growth strategy.”
It has been revealed that Mandelson sent Streeting a message, “The government doesn’t have an economic philosophy which is then followed through in a programme of policies.”
Streeting’s reply was, “No growth strategy at all.
Following this revelation ministers are now banned from revealing any messages they may have received from Mandelson whilst he was in government.
The Cabinet Office Propriety and Ethics team contacted ministers on Monday evening telling them not to publish anything with regard to Mandelson.
Badenoch said in response to this, “What we’re hearing is that the Cabinet Office is telling ministers not to put out their text messages.
“I think that’s quite shocking. We need to get to the truth.
“I still believe that there is some kind of cover up, they’re hiding something. And I think Labour MPs are terrified of what’s going to be found out.”
Badenoch has said the Conservative Party is “on an election footing” and the Tories have “an offer for the country.”
She told Sky News, “We actually have a plan and an offer for the country.
Being on an election footing isn’t about who’s going to win. It’s about what you do when you win. And this is the mess that Labour got itself into. They were thinking about how to win an election, but not how to govern.
That’s the same thing that Nigel Farage is thinking about now. He’s on an election footing. Yet he doesn’t have any economic plans.”
Badenoch continued, “We made mistakes in the past, I have acknowledged and apologised for mistakes of previous administrations, but I’m mostly focussed now on what the country needs.
“The country is in between a rock and a hard place because on the one hand, we have Keir Starmer, who obviously is not doing a good job and is making everything worse.
“And then the other options in Labour are all worse.”
