🚹“STARMER IS FINISHED”: Claims PM Could Be Gone by End of January! K1

A leading critic of Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership says nobody she knows thinks he will lead Labour into the next General Election.

Keir Starmer in casual shirt

Rosie Duffield says Sir Keir Starmer will soon be a backbencher and out of Number 10 (Image: AP)

Rosie Duffield will not be surprised if there is a newsflash in the coming weeks announcing that Sir Keir Starmer’s time as Prime Minister has come to an end. Once a Labour rising star who turned the traditionally true blue seat of Canterbury red for the first time in 2017, she is now a scathing critic of the PM. The 54-year-old says no one she knows thinks Sir Keir will lead the party into the next election, and she suggests his exit could be imminent.

“There are rumours it could be as early as the end of January,” she says. “We know that people are making moves, whether they deny it on television or not.”

She quit the Labour group of MPs in September 2024, blasting the “sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice” at the heart of a party hit by so-called freebie-gate, the torrent of tales about top figures getting free clothes and tickets to the likes of Taylor Swift. Her unhappiness in the Labour party was no secret. She was among its highest profile champions of single-sex spaces and rights based on biological sex.

After criticising Scotland’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill in 2023, she said the response from MPs reminded her of being in an abusive relationship. She described suffering “low-level trauma” at her “political isolation”. Ms Duffield once chaired the Women’s Parliamentary Labour Party but the gender controversies led to a situation where, she says, “people that I considered friends were frightened to be seen talking to me”.

Rosie Duffield in Westminster

Rosie Duffield was a Labour rising star and is now an Independent MP (Image: Humphrey Nemar)

She remains deeply disappointed at Sir Keir’s leadership at this time.

“He was perfectly happy to see me being bullied from within the party,” she alleges, adding he “has never stepped up to help, support or defend me or even speak to me about it”.

Would she like to sit down and talk to him about her treatment?

“Not now,” she says. “He’ll be a backbencher very soon.”

Has the PM ever offered to apologise?

“Gosh, no. He doesn’t do that
 I don’t think Keir ever thinks he’s done anything wrong.”

Andy Burnham with woman and baby

Rosie Duffield would consider rejoining a Labour party led by Andy Burnham (Image: Getty)

She claims she was punished “for believing in sex-based rights and believing in biological reality” – but she does not rule out a return to the Labour group, and is excited at the idea of Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham returning to Parliament.

“I would seriously consider rejoining if Andy Burnham was to find a way of becoming the leader,” she says. “I think we need someone from outside London desperately


“I think we need someone who’s achieved things and done things. Andy Burnham has.”

Ms Duffield warns her former party against replacing Sir Keir with anyone in his cabinet.

“If somebody from within that tiny circle takes over as leader, I think Labour has got no chance whatsoever in the next election, absolutely none,” she says. “They are going to get wiped out.”

She acknowledges not everyone in the Labour movement would welcome her back with open arms.

“To be honest,” she says, “the people running the party now would probably block me rejoining anyway because they’re still mostly of the opinion that I’m a bigot or whatever for standing up for women’s rights.”

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