A messy day for Starmer: is Labour ungovernable?
5/11/202637 min
Keir Starmer kicked off the day with a speech aimed at persuading MPs against launching any kind of leadership challenge. By lunchtime, Angela Rayner was speaking at the CWU conference calling for Andy Burnham to return. In the afternoon the list of MPs calling on him to resign was slowly creeping up but no challenge has materialised. Why is the Labour party in such a muddle over Starmer?. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/politicspod
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
This is The Guardian.
Keir Starmer· Soundbite0:01
[dramatic music] I had my doubters when I took on the Labour Party. I had my doubters who said we couldn't change this party and make it capable of winning an election, and I proved them wrong. And I'm gonna prove them wrong again.
Angela Rayner· Soundbite0:21
We as a party have to do better than this, and we can only prove we mean our Labour values by putting the common interest ahead of factionalism.
Speaker 4· Soundbite0:34
Our Labour government can no longer succeed if we have Keir at the helm. He's not a bad man. He, you know, he's, he's a very, very nice man, but he's an awful politician.
Pippa Crerar· Host0:46
I'm Pippa Carrera.
Kiran Stacey· Host0:48
And I'm Kieran Stacey.
Pippa Crerar· Host0:50
And you're listening to Politics Weekly.
Kiran Stacey· Host0:52
For The Guardian.
Keir Starmer· Soundbite0:52
The election results last week were tough. Very tough. We lost some brilliant Labour representatives. That hurts, and it should hurt. I get it. I feel it, and I take responsibility. But it's not just about taking responsibility for the results. It's about taking responsibility to explain how, as a political and electoral force,