Labour's disastrous results in the local elections in Britain have plunged the party into a psychodrama over the future of Prime Minister Keir Starmer. And only one party is winning from this - that of Nigel Farage.
After the disastrous results of the local elections in Britain, the voices calling for Prime Minister Keir Starmer to resign are becoming more and more powerful.
However, the British Prime Minister and leader of the Labour Party is categorical that he has no intention of giving up his post. The impression is that his party is extremely divided, writes ARD on the occasion. So it seems that the current question is how much longer Starmer can remain prime minister.
Nearly 90 Labour MPs want Starmer to step down. However, the party has another big problem - it has no clear idea who can succeed him. This problem is not only internal to the party, but also concerns the leadership of the government, for which there are also no candidates to replace Starmer. Observers are outraged that Labour - once one of the strongest parties in the United Kingdom, seems extremely confused. "Labour seems to be going crazy, getting bogged down in this psychodrama about its leadership", commented Starmer's biographer Tom Baldwin. The prime minister is trying to be tough and continues to claim that he will stay in the prime minister's post to save the country from chaos. However, the disagreement of his ministers has already led to resignations.
The Labour Party is in panic and confusion
Although there is no clear candidate for the leadership of the party, and potentially of the country, some Labour members who are considered the most likely successors to Starmer are trying to put pressure on him. "But he stubbornly remains in his post. The only way to get a British prime minister to resign is to practically shout at him to get out. That is exactly what some Labour MPs are doing. In fact, so many of them do it that there is chaos," writes political commentator Steve Richards in the British publication "Independent".
According to the journalist, there is already a sense of panic in the party ranks - Labour is asking itself whether the British will vote the same way in the next parliamentary elections. This would decisively push them out of the leadership positions.
If a potential new leader of the Labour Party is to be sought, one must bear in mind a serious dilemma in which the party has found itself in recent years, political analyst Rob Ford tells ARD. Labour is trying to position itself in the center - simultaneously stealing votes from Nigel Farage's "Reform UK" party - to appeal to those who voted for Brexit and are socially conservative, but at the same time to convince the liberals that they need to give way a little in order to have a stable coalition. Such a combination creates the perfect storm in front of them.
Only Farage wins
In its attempts to appeal to both, Labour seems to have managed to distance itself from everyone, writes ARD. According to opinion polls, Starmer's party is more likely to win back the votes that have flowed to the progressive Greens than to appeal to Farage's potential voters. But even if this happens, it is not clear whether it will be able to fight off right-wing populists.
"Reform UK" is the only party that benefits from the chaos that currently reigns in the Labour Party, believes Steve Richards. According to the journalist, Farage's party presents itself as an outsider in times when it is clear that democratic power quickly corrupts those who receive it - not only in Britain, but throughout the world. "Nigel Farage has never governed and, despite having had a huge influence on British politics, has always been out of power. That is why he can still present himself as a leader who is against the elite", Richards summarizes.
The British social democrats in the face of the Labour Party only repel voters with their public scandals, writes ARD. The question remains whether Starmer really needs to step down and become the fourth British prime minister in the last four years who has been forced to resign. This would mean that Labour looks as if they have learned nothing from similar unrest in the ranks of the Conservative Party. And it would lead to the opposite result of the one they promised voters in 2024 - "change" after 14 years of Conservative rule.