Starmer reaches another new low: Record numbers disapprove of PM as rivals attack ‘unforced errors’ and MPs tell him to go

Keir Starmer set another unwanted record today as the Labour deputy leadership frontrunner lashed out at ‘mistakes and unforced errors’.

A YouGov poll showed the PM’s popularity reaching another low, with his net favourability at minus 50 following his latest disastrous week.

The figures emerged as Lucy Powell, who was sacked by the PM in a panicky reshuffle less than a fortnight ago, warned in a brutal interview that the public does not feel the government is ‘on their side’. 

In a sign of efforts to force Sir Keir to the Left, she demanded that he abandons his ‘defensive crouch’ and gives a clear commitment to scrap the two-child cap on benefits.  

The former Commons Leader is the favourite to take the key post vacated by Angela Rayner when she quit over her tax affairs. A survey of activists this week showed Ms Powell streets ahead of Downing Street’s de facto candidate, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson. 

The latest broadside from critics comes as Sir Keir desperately tries to steady the ship after firing Lord Mandelson as US ambassador over his emails to Jeffrey Epstein. 

There are claims that 10 MPs have told party whips they have lost confidence in Sir Keir to lead them – although the scale of unrest suggests the numbers could be higher. 

The PM will be hoping that Donald Trump’s state visit starting today can finally distract attention from his woes.   

Lucy Powell, who was sacked by the PM in a panicky reshuffle less than a fortnight ago, warned in a brutal interview that the public does not feel the government is ‘on their side’

Ms Powell is positioning herself as a lightning rod for anger against the premier, with Labour’s conference at the end of this month expected to be dominated by questions about his future. Members are set to decide between Ms Powell and Ms Phillipson by the end of October. 

Speaking on the BBC’s Political Thinking with Nick Robinson podcast, Ms Powell said she had viewed herself as a ‘shop steward’ for MPs as Commons Leader.

But she swiped that she had been axed by Sir Keir because she had not been giving ‘feedback people wanted to hear’.

‘I know I’m not really in the in-crowd, and I don’t really sort of play some of the parlour games,’ she said.

‘I had fed back things that weren’t, with hindsight – maybe I thought I was doing the job I was supposed to be doing – but maybe that wasn’t feedback people wanted to hear.’

She insisted she does not want to be back in the Cabinet if she wins the election.

Ms Powell said Labour should be backing a ‘fairer economy that works in the interests of the many and not the few’.

‘I think part of what’s gone wrong is that people have lost sense of what those values are and whose side we are governing,’ she said.

‘When you look at our many achievements and the many things that we have been doing, whether that’s getting the waiting list down, or more NHS appointments, or some of the legislation that we brought in the Employment Rights Bill, or the renationalisation or the public ownership of railways – we’re taking on the vested interests in service of the many.

‘But yes, some of the mistakes we’ve made, or some of the unforced errors, have given a sense that we’re not on the side of ordinary people.’

Ms Powell stressed that those mistakes had been ‘admitted along the way’ because policies such as the winter fuel allowance cut had been reversed.

She urged the Government to be ‘clearer’ about wanting to scrap the two-child benefit cap.

Acknowledging that the timing of abolishing the cap must be down to ministers, she said MPs know it is ‘the single biggest policy we could do to address child poverty’.

The Manchester Central MP also played down rumours that she is a ‘stalking horse’ for Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham – often seen as a rival to Sir Keir.

‘You’ve got two strong women standing in an open and transparent contest,’ she said.

‘And instead of talking about the two strong women, everybody’s talking about this being a sort of proxy for war between two men, which quite honestly, I find kind of sexist, but it’s also completely wrong.’

Tory chairman Kevin Hollinrake said: ‘As the Prime Minister is distracted by scandals of his own making, inflation has nearly doubled and growth has flatlined.

‘Meanwhile, the chaos of scandal means the Deputy Leadership race has descended into a race to the bottom for unlimited welfare spending.

‘Be in no doubt, Labour is the Party of fiscal irresponsibility. Only the Conservatives will stop this irresponsible behaviour and the higher taxes that come with it.’

A poll of Labour members this week found Ms Powell enjoys a huge advantage over Ms Phillipson.

Once ‘don’t knows’ were excluded, the former Commons leader was supported by 61 per cent of activists in the research by Survation and grassroots site LabourList. 

In contrast Education Secretary Ms Phillipson was backed by just 39 per cent. 

Launching her own bid for the deputy leadership previously, Ms Phillipson urged Labour to remain united to win a second term in government.

‘I won’t pretend this government hasn’t made mistakes – I’ve been first to admit it’ she said.

‘But we can’t afford to look inwards – to go back to bad old days of divided Labour Party and open old wounds.

‘If we turn against each other only one person will win – Nigel Farage – but millions more will lose.’

A poll this week showed Ms Powell streets ahead of Downing Street’s de facto candidate, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson

Ms Powell’s position as the anti-leadership candidate has been cemented by praise from Mr Burnham.

Although she is facing one of his current Cabinet colleagues in Ms Phillipson, Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband has endorsed Ms Powell to speak ‘truth to power’.

She was previously a close aide to Mr Miliband when he was party leader.

Despite the rising clamour against Sir Keir, Labour rules make it extremely difficult to force him out.

At least 80 MPs – 20 per cent of the total – would need to back a specific challenger in order for a contest to be triggered. 

Even then it would need to be endorsed by a card vote at the annual party conference. That means it is seen as nearly impossible this Autumn.