A senior minister has torn into anyone considering challenging Keir Starmer’s leadership, saying rivals must “give their heads a gentle wobble”.

Labour is expected to take a beating when voters across the UK head to the ballot box for England’s local elections and devolved elections in Scotland and Wales.

According to widespread reports, senior Labour figures – including health secretary Wes Streeting, former deputy PM Angela Rayner and Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham – could be looking to topple Starmer if the party receives devastating results next week.

But Transport secretary Heidi Alexander stood by her boss on Sky News, urging challengers not to turn Labour into a “self-indulgent debating society”.

She said: “I think Keir is the best person to lead our country through the period of extreme international volatility that we are experiencing at the moment.

“I don’t think the public would thank us if the Labour Party turned into some sort of self-indulgent debating society when there are pockets of the world that feel like they are going to hell in a hand cart at the moment.”

She pointed to Starmer’s efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the major oil shipping lane which has been impacted by the US’s war in Iran.

“I think asking the prime minister to somehow reapply for his job while all of that is going on and he is entirely focused on the concerns of the British people would be the wrong thing to do,” Alexander said.

“I think those people who think we should have a leadership election now and repeat the mistakes that the Conservative government made in churning through prime ministers probably do need to give their head a gentle wobble at the moment.”

She claimed Starmer is “determined” to take what he has learned from the last two years in office and build a “stronger and fairer country for everyone”.

Asked if Alexander was sending that message to leadership rivals, she said: “This is about what the Labour Party needs to do to put the country first.

“We were elected in 2024 to deliver the change that the country was crying out for after Covid, Brexit, Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng and 14 years of Conservative government.”

“Change is going to take time,” she said, adding: “Does that mean we’re going to get a dopamine hit every couple of months? No it doesn’t. But does it mean we are going to put this country on the right path, yes, I do believe that.”

Alexander’s comments are striking considering other ministers started to distance themselves from Starmer over the Peter Mandelson scandal last month.

Work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden, questioned the prime minister’s judgment over the controversy.

Energy secretary Ed Miliband also admitted he and former foreign secretary David Lammy had both expressed concerns over Mandelson’s appointment before the ex-Labour peer became the UK’s ambassador to the US.

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