‘Wake up’ call from Croydon MP as she backs PM ‘Uncle Keir’

As health secretary Wes Streeting considers resigning from government, possibly triggering a leadership challenge, Steve Reed, Sarah Jones and Natasha Irons are backing Starmer

“Uncle” Keir Starmer is clinging on to the job of Prime Minister, probably grateful for the hiatus caused by today’s State Opening of Parliament ceremonials, after three days of dissent and calls for his resignation, even from members of his own cabinet following last week’s disastrous local elections.

The latest resignation threat has come this morning from Wes Streeting, the erstwhile health secretary.

But as he stages what he has described, as a “battle for the soul of our nation”, Starmer at least has the consolation that he has the support of Croydon’s three Labour MPs. For the time being, anyway.

Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, and Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, have both told Starmer he needs to make way for someone else. Other senior ministers talked to the Prime Minister about what a “responsible, dignified, orderly” exit might look like.

Almost one-quarter of Starmer’s MPs have formally requested he step down, either now or at an agreed time. Several ministers have resigned, with one of them, Jess Phillips, condemning the prime minister as too weak and process-driven ever to implement real change.

Meanwhile, Croydon’s Labour MPs appear quite content with the way the country is going, even after 1,500 Labour councillors across the country lost their seats in Thursday’s “earthquake elections”.

Steve Reed, the MP for Streatham (and Croydon North if ever he can be bothered) has adopted the role of defender-in-chief for Starmer. Which is hardly surprising, since Reed was among those in the shadowy, law-breaking splinter group Labour Together who undermined the previous Labour leader and installed Starmer as the person they saw who would do their bidding.

Sarah Jones, the MP for Croydon West, has lived down to her moniker of “Silent Sarah”. She’s been silent on the matter.

Jones’s name does not appear on the list of MPs calling for Starmer to go, but nor does her name appear on the list of MPs saying they want him to stay. Having just seen Starmer’s niece, Ellie Sandover, parachuted in to the safe Labour ward of Bensham Manor as a Croydon councillor, Jones may be biding her time, seeing how things settle down to maintain her position as a junior minister.

Natasha Irons, MP for Croydon East, has been outspoken about the position – though only on secret Labour MP WhatsApp groups, leaked to the press. Inside Croydon has seen the interchange. But then, so has everyone on Irons’ Twatter account now.

Irons says: “Bottom line, changing leader because Nigel Farage has forced us to is not something any of us can come back from. Anyone who thinks we can needs to wake up.”

Irons was a councillor in Merton until elected as MP at the 2024 General Election. Croydon East is probably the most marginal of Croydon’s four parliamentary seats, and among Conservative, and possibly Reform, target seats.

In the internal WhatsApp spat, Irons’ message brought a sharp rebuke from Peter Lamb, the MP for Crawley and a former staffer at The Campaign Company, the consultancy business that was established in Croydon by David Evans, Starmer’s pick to be Labour’s General Secretary.

Responding to Irons’s rallying call, Lamb snapped back: “Anyone who thinks this is sustainable needs an MRI.”

Pearls were dropped.

“This is really rude,” said one earnest member of the group. “We get enough insults on our socials. Let’s leave them out here,” said another.

Irons, however, shrugged it off. “I don’t think this is rude! I’ve heard worse. Peter and I are fine.”

And, once the exchange had been leaked, Irons doubled down on her “I’m backing Keir” stance. “I stand by this,” she tweeted, re-posting the screengrab.

For how long, though, remains to be seen, as the latest twist in what has been called “Labour’s psychodrama” (they are always psychodramas these days…), is that Wes Streeting, the health secretary, is considering resigning after a cursory 15-minute one-on-one with the PM in Downing Street this morning.

Streeting out of the Cabinet could well trigger the leadership challenge that Reed had been saying had failed to materialise just 24 hours earlier. And Streeting may consider this to be his main chance to grab the top job, while rivals Angela Rayner has tax issues and “King of the North” Andy Burnham remains without a seat in Parliament.

The Grauniad reported this morning: “Keir Starmer is still the UK’s prime minister. It is even possible he might be in a few months from now. But after two days punctuated by confusion and drama on a scale that belies Labour’s promise to end years of political upheaval, his authority appears shredded.”

Whatever policies may be read by King Charles III at the Palace of Westminster today, it is looking increasingly unlikely that “Uncle Keir” will be around for long to implement them.

Watch our latest Croydon Insider podcast, part of Inside Croydon’s unmatched coverage of the 2026 local elections, with special guest Tim Donovan, as our panel discuss what the council elections might mean for Croydon. Available now on Spotify

Inside Croydon – If you want real journalism, delivering real news, from a publication that is actually based in the borough, please consider paying for it. Sign up today: click here for more details

PAID ADS: To advertise your services or products to our 10,000 weekday visitors to the site, as featured on Google News Showcase, email us inside.croydon@btinternet.com for our unbeatable ad rates

If you have a news story about life in or around Croydon, or want to publicise your residents’ association or business, or if you have a local event to promote, please email us with full details at inside.croydon@btinternet.com

As featured on Google News Showcase

We offer FREE ads to community groups when they have members who are paid subscribers to Inside Croydon

Our comments section on every report provides all readers with an immediate “right of reply” on all our content. Our comments policy can be read by clicking here

ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2026, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for an EIGHTH time in nine years, in Private Eye magazine’s annual round-up of civic cock-ups