Labour rebels urge Keir Starmer to set out resignation date as Angela Rayner told to strike Blair-Brown style leadership pact with Andy Burnham

Susanna Siddell
Mon, 27 Apr 2026 12:05:21 +0000

Labour MPs are urging Sir Keir Starmer to set out his resignation date in the fallout over the Peter Mandelson scandal.

With the local elections less than two weeks away, backbenchers are readying themselves to call on the Prime Minister to leave Downing Street following what are expected to be a disappointing set of results.

Despite many rallying around the PM to move out of No10 after the May contest, rebels will tell Sir Keir to step down by the time Labour's autumn conference rolls around in October, the Daily Mail revealed.

Simmering tensions between factions of the party have heated up ever since Foreign Office chief Sir Olly Robbins was sacked for failing to inform the Prime Minister the New Labour giant had failed his vetting.

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Sir Olly, giving evidence in Parliament last week, subsequently claimed he was pressured by No10 to approve the ex-Cabinet minister as the UK Ambassador to the US.

Despite internal party fury, Downing Street assured opponents Sir Keir would lead the party into the next general election "and beyond" just last week.

Meanwhile, Westminster rival Angela Rayner has been told to strike a Blair-Brown-style leadership pact with Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham.

The pair could be conspiring to combine their influence on the left of Labour, with Mr Burnham running for the leadership role.

Ms Rayner, however, would support his bid for Downing Street – as well as secure "any job she wanted" in his Cabinet, The Telegraph was told.

The deal would be reminiscent of the "Granita pact" between Sir Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

The gentlemen's agreement was named as such due to the pair meeting in an Islington restaurant back in 1994, just after the death of former Labour leader John Smith.

There, they agreed Sir Tony would run as leader, while Mr Brown would brush aside his own leadership ambitions in exchange for the chancellorship and control over swathes of domestic policy.

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The duo also settled Sir Tony would cede power at a certain point, when Mr Brown would run to take his place in No10, with Sir Tony's support.

A similar agreement struck between Ms Rayner and Mr Burnham would unite an otherwise split vote down the left of the party, if both were to run.

One Labour source told The Telegraph: "He's suggested that they run together, and she could have any job she wanted in the Cabinet. When the time comes, he would step aside for her."

However, the Greater Manchester mayor would have to work out a way to become an MP before autumn.

Back in January, Sir Keir's allies already blocked the "King of the North" from a Westminster comeback, when he applied to stand in the Gorton and Denton by-election.

Eight of the Labour National Executive Committee's 10 members — including the Prime Minister — voted against the Mayor of Greater Manchester standing in the seat after the outgoing MP, Andrew Gwynne, resigned.

Just one committee member was in favour, the party's deputy leader Lucy Powell, while the NEC chairman, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, abstained.

But the decision sparked backlash, with ex-frontbencher Louise Haigh calling the decision "incredibly disappointing" and called for the NEC to "change course and make the right decision".

At that time, one Labour backbencher described the move as "a total sh**show" and "utter nonsense" in the contest that the party would go on to lose.