London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Sep 12, 2026

Sir Keir Starmer enters race

Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed he is standing in the contest to replace Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader.

The shadow Brexit secretary, seen as a frontrunner in the contest, has written in the Sunday Mirror that Labour needs to "rebuild fast" to restore trust.

It comes hours after MPs Lisa Nandy and Jess Phillips said they were entering the race.

The contest was called after Mr Corbyn announced he would stand down as leader after Labour's heavy election defeat.

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry and shadow treasury minister Clive Lewis have also confirmed they are standing.

Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey, seen as another potential frontrunner, is also expected to officially join the contest.


'Rebuild and win'

Declaring his candidacy in the Sunday Mirror while releasing a video on Twitter, Sir Keir said Labour needed to listen to voters if it was to "restore trust".


Sir Keir, who backed Remain in the EU referendum and was one of the leading figures in the party advocating for a new referendum, will kick off his leadership bid by visiting Brexit-backing Stevenage on Sunday.

Some of Mr Corbyn's allies have blamed Sir Keir's Brexit stance for the party's disastrous election performance last month, where much of its traditional, Leave-backing Northern strongholds fell to the Conservatives.

"We cannot bury our head in the sand: Labour must rebuild and fast. We have to restore trust in our party as a force for change and a force for good," Sir Keir wrote in the paper.

"The millions of people who needed change at the last election still need change. The moral fight against poverty, inequality and injustice must continue."

However, Sir Keir said Labour could not "lose sight of our values or retreat from the radicalism of the past few years".

Among other things, he said the party should push for a "Green New Deal" to fight climate change and make the case for a "radically transformed economy that empowers trade unions and communities that have been left behind".

And he also called for a "human rights approach" to foreign policy and international relations, accusing ministers of "failing to hold an irresponsible US president to account" over the situation in Iran.

A timetable for the leadership election - and any rule changes - is set to be decided by the party's ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) on Monday.

Under current rules, would-be candidates for both the leader and deputy leader roles must first be nominated by more than 20 MPs.

They must also secure nominations from at least 5% of Labour's constituency parties or three affiliated bodies - two of which must be trade unions.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK Reviews Nationwide Emergency Alert Tests After Systems Meet Reliability Targets
UK Seeks Faster Rail Links Across Northern Industrial Corridors
British Business Bank Allocates £150 Million for High-Growth Companies in Northern England
BBC Warns Staff Strikes Are Possible Amid Pay Dispute and £500 Million Savings Drive
UK Backs Short Extension of UN Sudan Sanctions Regime
Prime Minister Andy Burnham Defends Early Prison Release Reforms and Growth Strategy
Reform UK Faces Scrutiny Over Alleged Effort to Circumvent Foreign Donation Rules
UK Analysts Warn Tax Rises or Spending Cuts May Be Needed to Preserve Fiscal Headroom
Jaguar Land Rover Plans Up to 4,000 Job Cuts in £1.7 Billion Cost-Saving Drive
UK Chancellor Warns of Difficult October Budget as Borrowing Costs Rise
UK Declares Israeli Occupation of West Bank Unlawful and Expands Sanctions
UK House of Commons Rejects Assisted Dying Bill for England and Wales
English Councils to Gain Power to Introduce Tourist Taxes by 2028
Kemi Badenoch Reshuffles Conservative Shadow Cabinet
Firefighters Make Progress Containing Major Wildfires in South Wales
John Lewis Partnership Reports £124 Million Loss
Study Says UK AI Data Centres Will Create Only a Quarter of Forecast Jobs
UK Government Considers Higher Industrial Water Prices Amid Supply Pressures
Andy Burnham Holds First Call With Donald Trump as UK Prime Minister
NHS Records Busiest Summer on Record as Heatwaves Drive Hospital Admissions
Home Secretary Orders Police Crackdown on Far-Right Anti-Migrant Vigilantes
UK Supreme Court Rules Northern Ireland Religious Education Curriculum Breaches Human Rights Standards
Markets Price in Four Bank of England Rate Rises by Next Summer
House of Commons Prepares Free Vote on Assisted Dying Bill
UK Government Bans Trade With Israeli Settlements in Occupied Territories
UK Economy Grows 0.4% in July as Artificial Intelligence Investment Supports Expansion
Andy Burnham Becomes UK Prime Minister After Keir Starmer Resigns
John Lewis Partnership Loss Widens to £124 Million
UK Government to Put White Working-Class Social Mobility at Centre of Equality Policy
McLaren Plans £450 Million Technology Investment Creating 1,000 UK Jobs
UK Chancellor Faces Calls for Wealth Taxes and Public Ownership in Autumn Budget
English Mayors to Gain Powers to Impose Uncapped Overnight Tourist Taxes
JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon Warns UK Government Against Bank Windfall Taxes
UK Air Traffic Control Outage Cancels More Than 2,000 Flights
UK Imposes Trade Ban on Israeli Settlements in the West Bank
UK Borrowing Costs Surge as Middle East Tensions Push Long-Term Gilt Yields to Highest Since 1998
Buckingham Palace Says Prince Harry and Meghan Will Not Resume Official Royal Duties
UK Treasury Faces Calls to Scrap £100,000 Childcare Support Threshold
Trades Union Congress Urges Labour Government to Rewrite Migration Policy
Riot Police Deployed After Anti-Migrant Protests Turn Violent in Portsmouth
UK Considers Replacing Some Disability Cash Payments With Direct Services
JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon Warns UK Chancellor Against Higher Banking Taxes
UK Announces New Sanctions Targeting Israeli Settlements in West Bank
Metropolitan Police Investigate Alleged Illegal Donations to Reform UK
UK Charges Wiltshire Man With Assisting Russian Intelligence
UK Orders Urgent Review After Air Traffic Failure Cancels More Than 2,000 Flights
Merz Rebukes AfD Expansion in Saxony-Anhalt
King Charles Confirms Prince Harry and Meghan Will Remain Private Citizens
Labour Selects Former Child Refugee for By-Election in Keir Starmer’s Former Seat
Foreign Private Equity Accelerates Takeovers of London-Listed Industrial Companies
×