Sadiq Khan warns Keir Starmer '10 years in power is not realistic' in damning blow to PM's plans to remain in No10

Sir Sadiq Khan has warned Sir Keir Starmer that his "10 years in power" ambition is not realistic in another damning blow to the Prime Minister's plans to remain in No10.

It comes after Sir Keir insisted he will not step down as Prime Minister and outlined his desire to remain in the position for a decade.

Labour MPs are now assembling in their droves to demand the Prime Minister's resignation after the party's dismal display at the local elections.

Sir Keir told the Observer on Sunday: "I'm not going to walk away from the job I was elected to do in July 2024. I'm not going to plunge the country into chaos."

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He confirmed he intends to lead Labour into the next general election and serve a complete second term.

Since then, Labour ministers Jess Phillips and Miatta Fahnbulleh have resigned and called on the Prime Minister to step aside.

Sir Sadiq said: "I’m not somebody calling for a change in leader, although we’ve got to change.

"But we can’t pretend that Keir Starmer was popular or an asset on the doorstep."

He added: "Present company excepted, I think, generally speaking, the life expectancy of a chief executive, a football manager, a political leader, is shorter [now] than it otherwise would be,” he replied.

"Keir won the general election - the first general election he stood in, which is great. I think the key thing now is to focus on delivery and to give people hope and a vision. I think the idea of talking about ten years at this stage is just, just being frank and candid, as I always am, you know, is not realistic, because people want to talk about the next election."

In last week's local elections, Sir Keir’s party lost over 1,200 seats, more than half of those it was defending, along with 37 councils.

The Greens won their first-ever London council seats, taking Hackney, Lewisham, and Waltham Forest from Labour, and the directly elected mayoral seats in Hackney and Lewisham.

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Reform UK also gained its first London council majority in Havering.

The Conservatives regained control of Westminster from Labour, and the Liberal Democrats won all 54 seats in Richmond upon Thames.

Speaking on the results within the once Labour stronghold capital, the Mayor of London told The New Statesman: “My anger is made worse by the fact that we saw this coming.

"We made these promises in advance of July 2024 and it’s been almost two years, and we’ve simply not delivered the pace of change that people voted for."

He added: "That makes me really angry, because good councillors could have kept their seats, and they didn’t, not through any fault of themselves, their councillors or City Hall, but because of the Labour government.”

Sir Sadiq spoke of his experiences whilst door-knocking during the campaign, claiming that both the Prime Minister and Chancellor Rachel Reeves were widely unpopular with the electorate.

The Mayor continued: "There was, without doubt, unhappiness with Keir Starmer, with the Chancellor Rachel Reeves, and with the Labour government."

"We should be giving hope. I mean, this doom and gloom stuff, every time I hear the Chancellor speak, it’s doom and gloom for the last two years. People didn’t vote for a Labour government for more doom and gloom."

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