Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has instructed his potential successors to prepare for a leadership contest in the event of his resignation over Covid breaches, it has been reported.
He has vowed to step away from his position as leader of the Opposition should he be found to have broken lockdown rules with a takeaway dinner with staff at the end of a working day in April 2021, which police are investigating.
Sir Keir is said to want plans in place for a successor to ensure his efforts as Labour leader over the past two years are not lost, according to the Sunday Times.
‘I will not let our hard-won gains be squandered so we will need to be ready in the unlikely event that the worst comes to worst,’ he is said to have told friends.
It is understood he has met with a number of shadow cabinet members who are vying for his spot, and instructed them to ready a campaign team.
Among them is Shadow Levelling Up Secretary Lisa Nandy and Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting – who are both said to have received Sir Keir’s endorsement – as well as Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.
‘Keir has been engaging in some sensible succession planning but there is also suspicion in the shadow cabinet that a couple of people hope he gets fined so they can take over,’ a source told the newspaper.
Both Sir Keir and deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner are under investigation by Durham Police over the takeaway dinner.
They are said to have returned to police a ‘very detailed and very comprehensive’ response to the questionnaires, including precise timings over the course of the evening.
The Labour leader has repeatedly denied breaking lockdown rules.
But if fined by police, this would put him in a tricky position as he said Boris Johnson should quit if found to have broken rules.
Last month, he pledged to resign himself if found to have breached lockdown rules.
In a short speech, he said repeatedly that ‘no rules were broken’ but confirmed he would ‘do the right thing and step down’ if fined.
He described it as ‘a matter of principle and honour for me, it’s about who I am’, accusing opponents of ‘trying to feed cynicism’ despite ‘not believing’ the allegations themselves.
Addressing the alleged rule breach, he said ‘people were entitled to expect politicians would follow the same rules as everyone else’.
In January, he said the Prime Minister ‘needs to do the decent thing and resign’ after he became embroiled in lockdown breach allegations.
Durham Police is unlikely to conclude their probe into Sir Keir until the end of the month, it is thought, and is keen to avoid announcing the conclusion before the results of Thursday by-elections in Wakefield and Honiton and Tiverton.
Sir Keir’s resignation would trigger a leadership contest and would require candidates to have the backing of 20 per cent of the party’s MPs – in this case 39 – to proceed.
They will also need be receive nominations from at least five per cent of Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs) or at least three affiliates, two of which much be trade unions.
The vote will then be put to party members.
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