Starmer began the day damaged and then things got worse

"Has Keir done enough to survive? was the question anxious Labour MPs were asking each other throughout Monday, after the speech regarded by many as crucial to Starmer's chances of political survival. But the anxiety for many of them badly bruised by Thursday's election crushing did not stem from concern the prime minister might be ousted. But that he would not. Starmer began the day already damaged."

"Starmer began the day already damaged. As many as 40 MPs had called for him to set out a timetable for his departure. Leadership contenders were circling. He faced an unlikely stalking horse in backbench MP Catherine West. At the London community centre where he was giving his speech to Labour members, the few senior party figures present looked tense. Starmer, in shirt sleeves and without a tie, arrived with furrowed brow."

"I take responsibility for not walking away, not plunging our country into chaos, as the Tories did time and again, chaos that did lasting damage to this country. A Labour government would never be forgiven for inflicting that on our country again, he told the audience. I know that people are frustrated by the state of Britain, frustrated by politics, and some people are frustrated with me. I know I have my doubters, and I know I need to prove them wrong, and I will."

"The prime minister's problem, however, is that a growing number of his own MPs are unlikely to change their minds. I always bought the argument that changing leader would undermine all our promises about stability, however bad things were. But it's gone too far we can't go on like this, said one previously loyal backbencher. Others felt that while Starmer had diagnosed the problem that the British people were tired of a status quo that had let them down he didn't have the solution."

Anxious Labour MPs questioned whether Keir Starmer had done enough to survive politically after a speech seen as crucial to his chances. Starmer began the day already weakened, with as many as 40 MPs calling for a timetable for his departure and leadership contenders circling. Catherine West emerged as an unlikely challenge. In his speech, Starmer took responsibility for not walking away and warned that a Labour government would never be forgiven for inflicting chaos again. He acknowledged frustration with Britain, politics, and himself, and said he needed to prove doubters wrong. Some MPs accepted the diagnosis but argued he had not offered a sufficient solution, noting incremental change and the lack of earlier discussion of the needed scale of response.

Read at www.theguardian.com