Britain’s depleted center-right Tories have been more than happy to depose a figurehead when the going gets tough — but it hasn’t always helped.
Theresa May replaced David Cameron as PM in 2016 — but lost the Conservatives’ majority after calling an ill-advised snap election the following year. Liz Truss took over from Boris Johnson in 2022 … and was out of Downing Street 49 days later. Her successor, Rishi Sunak, led the Tories to their worst-ever defeat in the 2024 general election.
Climate Secretary Ed Miliband embraced that argument on Tuesday.
“Labour MPs looked over the precipice and they didn’t like what they saw,” he told broadcasters.
“As a collective body, the Cabinet, the Labour Party looked at the alternatives of going down this road of a chaotic leadership election, trying to depose a prime minister, and they said: ‘No, that’s not for us.’”
The problem for Starmer is that sentiment might not hold.
If his poll ratings don’t improve, or if there’s another big misstep from No. 10, Labour MPs might just be willing to roll the dice.