Economics
Starmer Bids to Rebuild Premiership From Wreckage Left by Rayner
Keir Starmer departs 10 Downing Street.
Photographer: Carl Court/Getty Images
The loss of a top deputy was bound to plunge Keir Starmer’s government into crisis. The British prime minister did what he could to turn a bad day into a chance to save his premiership.
Starmer used an emergency Cabinet overhaul precipitated by the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner on Friday to try to breathe new life into a Labour government that is flat-lining in public opinion surveys after just 14 months. His allies hope Rayner’s downfall due to a tax scandal has given them a chance to name the team they wish they’d appointed when they took power.