Labour immigration minister Mike Tapp has called for a law to be introduced forcing a general election if a party in power changes its leader.
After a weekend of rumours swirling about Keir Starmer’s future as prime minister, the writing appears to now be on the wall for the Labour leader.
Starmer will address the nation from Downing Street on Monday morning, when he is expected to announce his resignation plan.
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This comes after Andy Burnham won the Makerfield by-election, securing his return to parliament and paving the way for him to challenge Starmer for the Labour leadership.
Since Burnham’s win on Friday, it seems Starmer has been convinced by some of his most senior ministers that Burnham’s popularity is such that there would be no point Starmer trying to run in a leadership election, and should instead resign to set up a handover of power over the coming months.
The rapid developments of recent days have split the Labour party though. Whilst Burnham is clearly hugely popular amongst MPs in the party, there are many Starmer allies who are furious with him being pushed out.
This seems to include Mike Tapp, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Migration and Citizenship.
In a post on X on Sunday afternoon, the Dover and Deal MP called for a new law to be introduced which would force a general election if a party changes its leader.
He wrote: “Is it time to legislate; if a change of leader is forced by its own Party then a General Election must be called.
“That would stop the constant churn and focus all politicians on delivery, instead of work place politics.
“These endless ‘house of cards’ games would end and the country would benefit. Let’s legislate to focus minds.”
In a follow-up post, Tapp said he was “pleased to see the debate has begun” on X following his suggestion.
He continued: “We cannot continue as we are. There are many nuances to this but at the core we must remember that as politicians we are here to serve the country – and 6 (possibly 7) PMs in 10 years is unsustainable.
“We need to find a better balance and this conversation is important.”
Whilst the suggestion got expected support from usual opponents of Labour and Starmer, some reminded Tapp that this simply was not how British democracy works.
Responding to him, East Hull MP Karl Turner said: “It’s a Parliamentary democracy, Mike. We don’t elect Prime Ministers. Let’s start by legislating to force by-elections when self-serving shysters cross the floor to improve their chances of being re-elected. They’ve crossed to us and vice versa. Shysters no matter the party they go to.”
Several others reminded Tapp that the UK has a parliamentary system instead of a presidential one.