Is the time right for the first Labour woman in Number 10? - Susan Dalgety

Liz Truss wasn’t in post long enough to earn a nickname - at least not one that is printable. She was followed by Rich Boy Rishi, who did his best but the country had had enough of the Tories. Which is why, in July 2024, we ended up with Labour’s Keir Starmer, who may well turn out to be the worst of the lot.

Current Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has impressed since taking on her role last September. She is 8/1 to become Labour leader

I say this with a heavy heart. I have been a Labour member since 1980, with a three-year sabbatical during the Corbyn years, but I have never been a big fan – or even a half-hearted admirer - of the Prime Minister’s.

That said, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt after the election. After all, Labour had a big majority, there were some good people in his cabinet and several excellent Scottish Labour MPs, including Tracy Gilbert in Edinburgh North and Leith and Kirsteen Sullivan, the new member for Bathgate and Linlithgow. And with Ian Murray as Scottish Secretary, things would surely get better.

Only they didn’t. The first sign that Starmer wasn’t up to the job was when he allowed his charisma-free Chancellor Rachel Reeves to announce the end of the winter fuel allowance, without warning.

The inevitable U-turn that followed was the first sign of Starmer’s timid approach to government. Since then, he has changed his mind on welfare reform, inheritance tax changes for farmers, business rates and digital ID, which displays either extreme caution or the lack of a political plan – probably both.

And his shock sacking of Ian Murray as Secretary of State, which came completely out of the blue, showed a callous, ill-informed leadership style. Even then, he was forced to change his mind, offering Murray a different ministerial post within hours of sacking him after MPs kicked up a row at the treatment of their colleague.

The latest controversy to hit Starmer may prove to be his last. Peter Mandelson is, by all accounts, a charming, brilliant man. There is also a dark side to his character, as recent revelations have shown.

Starmer’s decision to appoint him US ambassador, despite his friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, proved that the Prime Minister’s judgement cannot be trusted. All the talk at Westminster and here in Labour circles is not if he will be replaced as PM but when.

But who is in the running to be our seventh Prime Minister in ten years? There’s the ex-deputy PM Angela Rayner, who has amassed a £1 million war chest for the leadership battle, but has yet to settle her tax dispute with HMRC.

The charismatic and very able health secretary, Wes Streeting, is keen on the job - perhaps too keen. The smart money is on Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary.

The Tories have given the country three women Prime Ministers. Could the time be right for the first Labour woman in Number 10?