Labour peer warns Keir Starmer will be 'gone' unless he does one radical u-turn

A prominent Labour Peer has become the latest party figure to issue damning criticism of the Prime Minister, warning he will be ousted unless he radically changes direction. Lord Glasman, a leading voice on the socially right-wing of the Labour Party, has said Sir Keir Starmer must quit the ECHR, and instruct the Royal Navy to begin patrolling the Channel.

The peer simply warned that without this major U-turn, "he's gone". The warning came after a three-day farce in which the PM's flagship immigration policy fell apart on contact with reality. On Sunday and Monday, the first two planes intended to see the first returns of illegal immigrants to France took off without a single one on board after last-minute interventions by human rights lawyers.

Sir Keir paraded his new deal with Emmanuel Macron nine weeks ago, which he claimed was the beginning of a new 'one-in, one-out' deal to end the incentives to enter Britain via small boats.

Despite promises that the scheme would begin "in weeks", not a single person has yet been deported. Last night Labour received another blow after the High Court ruled that an Eritrean man could not be deported to France on human rights grounds.

The top court claimed that the individual would be made "destitute" if he were returned to Paris.

The Government's own lawyer warned that were the court to block the man's removal, it would "undermine" Sir Keir's flagship policy.

Lord Glasman that Sir Keir "is, I think, pretty shocked by the reality of being Prime Minister...He comes from a class of lawyers."

He warned No. 10: "Labour can die like the Conservative Party... it's going to leave as his legacy the destruction of Labour as a force in British politics."

His outburst comes after days of other prominent Labour politicians saying Sir Keir has just months left in the top job. Yesterday a serving Labour Minister said the PM "won't last until Christmas", following the Lord Mandelson Epstein scandal.

According to The Times, senior government figures have begun referring to the current crisis and scandal and "terminal".

Three MPs have now publicly earmarked next May's major local and devolved elections as the crunch point for the Prime Minister, with polls suggesting Labour will be given a massive kicking by voters. Left-winger Richard Burgon has now stated that Sir Keir "will be gone" if the next set of local elections are as bad as those within Labour fear.

He told the Today Programme: "Lots of MPs are looking to the elections next May.

The opinion polls suggest it's going to be a complete disaster unfortunately and there'll be elections in the Scottish Parliament, elections in the Welsh Senedd, elections in London, elections right across the country and the opinion polls at the moment suggest that as it stands it's going be a disaster.

"I think it's inevitable if May's elections go as people predict and the opinion polls predict then I think Starmer will be gone at that time."

Other Labour MPs have joined him in setting up next May as a crisis point for the Prime Minister, including former deputy leadership candidate Rosena Allin-Khan, who said that while Sir Keir has a "huge mandate" he needs to be allowed to "see this out and be judged in May". Fellow Labour MP Helen Hayes added: "If those elections don't go well, then that will be the time to ask questions... about the nature of the leadership and whether things can continue as they are."