Keir Starmer is urged by allies to get rid of 'conspirator' Ed Miliband for plotting against him

Published: 00:01, 15 May 2026 | Updated: 00:02, 15 May 2026 Keir Starmer has been urged to sack Ed Miliband for plotting against him. Allies of Sir Keir accused the Energy Secretary of coordinating efforts to force him out of No 10, while privately canvassing support to succeed him as prime minister. Mr Miliband has publicly ruled out running to succeed Sir Keir, saying that his fraught experience as Labour leader has 'inoculated' him against ever wanting the job again. But Labour MPs say he is quietly sounding out potential supporters if a quick leadership contest is triggered in which Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham cannot take part.  Mr Miliband has not denied reports that he warned Sir Keir weeks ago that he should set out a timetable for his departure if Labour suffered a meltdown at the local elections. Sources claim he has also been encouraging other ministers to tell the PM to quit - and encouraging MPs to speak out against him. His protege, Miatta Fahnbulleh, was one of four ministers who resigned this week, although she insisted she had not been prompted to do so by Mr Miliband.  An insider said: 'Ed has behaved disgracefully throughout. He has been pushing people to go to the PM and tell him it's time to go. Ed Miliband  has publicly ruled out running to succeed Sir Keir, saying that his fraught experience as Labour leader has 'inoculated' him against ever wanting the job again. Labour MPs say he is quietly sounding out potential supporters Allies of Sir Keir Starmer have accused the Energy Secretary of co–ordinating efforts to force him out of No 10, while privately canvassing support to succeed him as prime minister 'He is telling everyone that Angela [Rayner] is not up to it and that if there is a quick contest he will have to be the candidate of the Left. It is so out of touch – he seems to be hoping that people will just forget he led the party to disaster. 'And all the while he keeps his head below the parapet and makes out that he is not interested in being PM.' One Labour MP loyal to Sir Keir said: 'The PM should sack Ed, even if it's the last thing he does, in the same way Boris Johnson sacked [Michael] Gove at the end. He has been behind a lot of the destabilising activity.' Mr Miliband is one of several senior Cabinet ministers who have yet to offer their public support to Sir Keir following last week's disastrous local election results. He led Labour from 2010 - and on to a crushing defeat by David Cameron's Conservatives in 2015. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.