The Chief Political Correspondent for the Times Aubrey Allegretti has received a message from a Labour MP which seemingly reveals how unpopular Keir Starmer is among his MPs.
A Labour MP texts: “Pretty brutal to get just 5 reactions in 5 hours in the 2024 MPs’ group on the only message praising the PM on Laura K today.”
Apparently a message wishing another MP happy birthday has had more positive reactions. pic.twitter.com/T44KxxZ99I
— Aubrey Allegretti (@breeallegretti) January 4, 2026
No longer ‘Mr Popular’, are you Starmer?
Allegretti suggests that Starmer simply isn’t popular among the 2024-elected Labour cohort of MPs, only receiving encouragement from a measly five MPs. Considering how loyal and devout the recently elected bunch were in 2024, Starmer seems to have fallen from grace among Labourites.
And let’s remember that the 2024 Labour MPs are the rankest, hand-selected most Starmerite loyalists of all MPs – if he’s lost this bunch of sycophants he’s gone.
— Juliet Brown
(@JulietB270880) January 4, 2026
Speaking to the potential dismay ahead of the upcoming local elections:
I’d imagine they’re more concerned with how many councillors their constituencies will be losing in May.
— The TV Grump (@TheTVGrump) January 4, 2026
Another X account points out that internal Labour opposition doesn’t amount to all that much:
This is the level of opposition to western imperialist aggression in the Labour Party. A rancid sewer. https://t.co/PmvQy0Ey8m
— Sii
(@skippy_0h) January 4, 2026
It’s also sparked curiosity over who the loyalist MP is:
Was that Luke Akehurst?
— James Foster (@JamesEFoster) January 4, 2026
However, others have drawn issue with the editorial priorities of the Times:
The man from The Times.
The newspaper of record.
Gossipy garbage, Aubrey. You realise there’s a war on presumably.— scarlett636 (@shhhyounohoo) January 4, 2026
When the Times do report on global conflict, of course, they will have to reference that Labour are refusing to voice an opinion:
Not commenting on Venezuela is one thing, but Starmer's ministers not even being willing to say "no of course the US shouldn't invade a peaceful sovereign democratic NATO country, which is one of our closest allies" is quite another.
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) January 5, 2026
Our own Rachel Swindon wrote about the abysmal failure of the Labour government and the (un)likelihood of Starmer making it past one term.
How the mighty have fallen
The 2024 General Election saw a huge majority afforded to the PM and the Labour government, with loyalists cheering for Starmer to lead the country.
As we go into 2026, Starmer doesn’t seem to have much sway with his own MPs. That hardly inspires hope for Labour’s performance in the upcoming local elections, when they will have to answer to struggling communities who are always left to foot the bill.
Featured image via Institute for Government
This post was originally published on Canary.