Prime Minister Faces Growing Pressure as Labour MP Volunteers Seat for Potential Leadership Challenge.

Keir Starmer’s political troubles intensified today following an unprecedented offer from one of his own MPs to step aside for a potential leadership challenger.

Clive Lewis, a left-wing Labour backbencher, publicly expressed doubt about the Prime Minister’s ability to recover from plummeting approval ratings ahead of crucial fiscal and electoral tests.

While supporters of Sir Keir have maintained there’s no clear alternative leader, reports suggest over 80 MPs may be willing to back an effort to remove him—enough to trigger a leadership contest. Some government ministers reportedly now view a leadership change as unavoidable.

Andy Burnham, the Manchester Mayor, continues to be mentioned as a possible replacement, though his prospects were damaged after an awkward moment at a recent Labour conference where he alluded to leadership ambitions.

During an appearance on BBC Politics Live, Mr Lewis acknowledged having discussions with Mr Burnham, though he declined to reveal whether the mayor was interested in mounting a challenge.

When questioned about whether he would vacate his Norwich South seat to allow Mr Burnham to enter Parliament, Mr Lewis responded affirmatively, saying if he truly believed in putting country before party and party before personal ambition, he had to answer yes.

Mr Lewis remains the sole MP to publicly call for Sir Keir’s departure, though he later attempted to downplay his comments as “theoretical.”

The government’s internal tensions have escalated following a failed attempt by the PM’s allies to preemptively undermine Cabinet rivals. Health Secretary Wes Streeting openly criticized what he called No10’s “toxic culture” and “self-destruction,” forcing Sir Keir to defend his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney.

Adding to the chaos, the Prime Minister and Chancellor Rachel Reeves reversed course on reported plans to raise income tax rates at next week’s Budget, despite weeks of apparent signaling.

Recent polling shows significant erosion of support among Labour voters, with 23 percent believing the party leader should resign immediately and another 22 percent thinking he should step down before the next election. Just 34 percent want him to lead Labour into the next contest.

At yesterday’s Cabinet meeting, Sir Keir urged his ministers to avoid further “distractions,” despite his own allies appearing to brief against colleagues. He emphasized that the public was “rightly impatient” with the government’s internal feuding.

During Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir avoided directly answering Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch’s question about whether the Budget would freeze tax thresholds.

Mrs Badenoch criticized what she called “the first Budget to unravel before it’s even been delivered,” questioning why the government had floated and then abandoned income tax increases.

The Prime Minister responded that full Budget details would be revealed next week, highlighting plans to protect the NHS and public services while avoiding both austerity measures and irresponsible borrowing.RetryClaude can make mistakes. Please double-check responses.