Labour MPs brand Keir Starmer 'insane' after his interview claiming a leadership challenge would plunge Britain into chaos

By CHRISTIAN CALGIE, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT-AT-LARGE Published: 19:50, 12 June 2026 | Updated: 19:56, 12 June 2026 Keir Starmer warned his MPs today that a leadership challenge against him would plunge the country into 'chaos'. The crisis-ridden premier vowed to fight any challenge against him by Andy Burnham because of his 'deep sense of duty'. With voters in Makerfield set to decide the fate of the Prime Minister this Thursday, Sir Keir issued a warning to Mr Burnham that whoever replaces him will face the same crises and problems that have sunk his time in office. Sir Keir said: 'Whoever is prime minister is going to face the same prevailing winds as I am facing, none of that is going to change. 'For every answer that is being suggested, the question has to be, when you're in government, which is about trade-offs, what is it then that you wouldn't do? 'Because easy answers are by their nature easy. Decisions in government involve trade-offs.' He begged Labour MPs to give him time to 'turn things around', as he insisted that he would not slink out of No. 10 without a fight. Speaking to the BBC, he said: 'I'm not going to go away. I don't think we should plunge the country into the chaos of a leadership election. Keir Starmer's interview on the BBC was blasted by Labour MPs this afternoon The Prime Minister said that a leadership contest sparked by Andy Burnham or others would plunge the country into 'crisis' Sir Keir argued that any contender for leader would have the same difficult trade offs when it comes to defence spending that has had faced  'I don't think it should happen, but if it does, then I will fight. 'That's not about personal vanity. It's not about stubbornness. It's out of a very deep sense of duty.' In a further swipe at Mr Burnham and former Health Secretary Wes Streeting, the Prime Minister said he has been 'concentrating on the job I was elected to do', while they 'have made their own case' to take his crown. But Sir Keir's claim that a leadership challenge would plunge the country into chaos was ridiculed by his own MPs, one of whom hit back: 'As opposed to his chaos-free leadership?' Two separate MPs branded the Prime Minister's position 'mental', with one adding: 'I don't know what's in the water at No. 10, but they need to get it checked ASAP'. And a fourth backbencher described Sir Keir's obstinacy as 'utterly insane', and demanded he 'recognise the game is up' for both him and Rachel Reeves 'for the sake of his family, for the sake of the party, and for the sake - most importantly - of our country'. It is now understood that Keir Starmer will not visit the constituency to help Mr Burnham campaign, despite previously voicing a desire 'to be part' of the effort. Yesterday's interview with the BBC saw Sir Keir confronted with his own words used against Liz Truss when she was facing her own leadership crisis. At the time, Sir Keir accused Ms Truss of being 'last in denial about the turmoil she was causing' to the country. Tomorrow, Mr Burnham will make his last major public intervention of the campaign as he delivers a speech in Makerfield ahead of Thursday's polling day. The constituency is also set to be flooded with up to 1,000 supporters of Restore Britain, the hard-right splinter party headed by Rupert Lowe MP that threatens to steal enough voters from Reform UK to allow Mr Burnham to sneak through the middle to victory. Another poll of the Makerfield by-election published this evening by More in Common put Labour on 45%, Reform on 40% and Restore on 8%.  The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.