Labour-Backing Trade Union Leader Breaks Ranks And Calls For Starmer To Go
The head of a Labour-backing trade union has called for Keir Starmer to be replaced as prime minister.
Steve Wright, general secretary of the left-wing Fire Brigades Union, said Labour MPs need to demand “change” in Downing Street.
His intervention came amid mounting speculation that the prime minister is set to be ousted amid public fury at his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to America.
Starmer was forced to sack him last September after fresh revelations about his association with the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The former Labour peer now faces a criminal investigation after a new tranche of decuments appeared to show him passing market-sensitive information to Epstein when he was business secretary in the wake of the 2008 financial crash.
Starmer has said Mandelson lied to him about the extent of his friendship with Epstein when he was being vetted for the ambassador’s job.
Appearing on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, Wright said: “I think we need to see change. I think 18 months ago the general public wanted to see that change – and we’re not seeing it, we’re just seeing a continuation of what happened before – and I think that needs to be a leadership change. I think MPs need to be calling for that.”
Asked if he thinks Starmer should go, Wright said: “I think everybody’s thinking it, we’re just not saying it at the moment.
“Unfortunately we’re seeing MPs being wheeled out again today to sweep up the mess behind the prime minister at the moment. It seems the prime minister isn’t taking advice from elected people within his own government.
“He didn’t listen to the former deputy prime minister, he hasn’t listened to the current deputy prime minister, he’s listening to a factional group which are making bad decisions it seems .
“I want to see the change that was promised that this country needs.”
“There needs to be a leadership change”
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) February 8, 2026
Fire Brigades Union boss Steve Wright says the government’s ongoing political problems mean Keir Starmer should now be replaced as Labour leader and prime minister#BBCLauraKhttps://t.co/fjhbGbz4Uppic.twitter.com/p60hjdcq0z
But work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden defended the PM and said Labour should “not drop the pilot after 18 months” in office.
Asked about demands for a vote of confidence vote in Starmer by Labour MPs, he replied: “Why would we have a confidence vote when he won a general election 18 months ago? He should carry on with what he’s doing.”