Hornsey and Friern Barnet MP Catherine West says she will seek nominations to run against the prime minister if the cabinet doesn’t move to tackle to the situation following Labour’s crushing losses in this week’s elections

Hornsey and Friern Barnet MP Catherine West (credit parliament.uk)

A Barnet MP says she will run for the leadership of the Labour Party if the cabinet does not move to replace Prime Minister Keir Starmer by tomorrow.

Catherine West, the MP for Hornsey and Friern Barnet, is putting herself forward as a ‘stalking horse’ candidate in a bid to force change following her party’s heavy defeats in this week’s elections, which saw it lose control in both boroughs covered by her parliamentary constituency.

The term ‘stalking horse’ refers to a candidate who enters a political contest not expecting, or necessarily even seeking, to win outright but with the aim of testing support for alternatives to the current leadership and encouraging others to put themselves forward.

A previous example came in 1989, when Conservative MP Sir Anthony Meyer was the first to challenge then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Despite Meyer’s heavy defeat, Thatcher was forced to step down under a year later following a more strongly-backed challenge from former cabinet minister Michael Heseltine.

Announcing her own possible stalking horse bid, West told the BBC yesterday that if none of Starmer’s cabinet decided to throw their hat in the ring then she would do so herself tomorrow (Monday).

Having declared her intention to stand, she would then need to be nominated by 81 of the party’s MPs to force a full contest including Labour Party members.

West said on Radio 4’s PM programme: “My preferred option is for the cabinet to do a reshuffle within itself, where there’s plenty of talent, and for Keir to be given a different role, which he might enjoy, perhaps an international role.”

Writing on X (formerly Twitter) yesterday she expanded on her thinking in response to results of Thursday vote. She said that while she personally gets on well with prime minister “his approach is not cutting through”.

She added that “the results over the past 48 hours are nothing short of disastrous. Unless things change, we risk Nigel Farage becoming Prime Minister”.

She continued: “The Labour Party need the chance to have an honest conversation about how we deliver the change we promised in 2024, and that requires new leadership which understands the urgent and real concerns of people across the UK.”

While Labour clearly has big problems in a wider sense, the MP may be particularly concerned by local developments in Haringey and Barnet.

In Haringey, Labour lost control of the council for the first time since 1971 with the Greens becoming the largest party in the borough, while in the part of Barnet which is in West’s constituency, Friern Barnet ward, Labour councillors including leader Barry Rawlings narrowly held off a challenge from the Greens as they lose their majority in the borough as a whole.

The combination of these results might see West’s seat, where she had a huge majority of 21,475 at the 2024 general election, emerge as a surprise target for the Greens. Ominously for the MP, despite her big win, the Green’s significantly increased their vote share in second place.

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