FirstFT: Starmer on the brink

Good morning and welcome to FirstFT. In today’s newsletter:

• Starmer makes last-ditch bid to save his premiership

• Warsh to face resurgent inflation as incoming Fed chair

• Trump says Iran ceasefire is on ‘life support’

• AfD surges after criticising Trump’s Iran war

You can listen to today’s top news stories in the FT News Briefing podcast.

We begin with Sir Keir Starmer, who is making a last-ditch attempt to save his job as Labour Party allies break ranks with the UK prime minister.

The latest: Starmer is “weighing” if he can salvage his premiership ahead of a crucial cabinet meeting today after senior ministers joined a growing revolt by Labour MPs and urged him to set a date for his departure.

Starmer’s allies acknowledged that the mood was “pretty ugly”, with one admitting that the party might be about to dump its leader. “It’s absolutely barking mad,” said one minister close to the prime minister.

Calls to step down: Starmer has insisted he will fight on and those inside an embattled Number 10 said his resolve remained strong. But some allies believe he cannot stem the rising tide of Labour opinion calling for him to go.

Yesterday, Starmer tried to save his job with a “reset” speech after last week’s dire election results. But it was followed by more than 70 Labour MPs calling for him to quit or set out plans for his departure. Four ministerial aides also resigned, including allies of Wes Streeting, the health secretary and a leadership rival.

Home secretary Shabana Mahmood and foreign secretary Yvette Cooper urged Starmer to set an orderly timetable for his departure, according to officials close to the talks.

The prime minister will set out his response to the revolt to his cabinet this morning. Read the full story.

• Ask an Expert: Send your questions to Stephen Bush and Robert Shrimsley, who will unpack the consequences of last week’s polls in today’s live Q&A.

Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:

• Economic data: The US releases inflation figures for April. They are expected to show a 3.8 per cent annual rise in consumer prices, according to a Bloomberg poll, up from 3.3 per cent in March.

• Denmark: Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen addresses a democracy summit in Copenhagen.

• France: The 79th Cannes Film Festival begins, running until May 23.

How have you been affected by Brexit? Ten years on from the UK’s vote to leave the EU, the FT would like to hear how Brexit has made an impact on you or your work. Fill out our short form www.ft.com/brexitsurvey

Five more top stories

1. Kevin Warsh, who is expected to be confirmed as Federal Reserve chair by the US Senate as early as tomorrow, will be thrust into an “impossible” position as he battles against the inflation triggered by the Iran war and President Donald Trump’s calls for lower rates, economists warn.

2. President Donald Trump yesterday said that the month-long US ceasefire with Iran was “on massive life support” after he rejected Tehran’s counterproposal for a deal to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

• Gulf dealmaking: Bankers had been on pace for $1bn in fees for the first time in almost 20 years. The war put everything on ice.

• Age of asymmetry: Current conflicts have shown that power flows less from size or wealth than from the ability to convert imbalance into leverage, writes former senior UN official Nader Mousavizadeh.

3. Exclusive: Amazon has started to widely deploy an in-house product that allows employees to create AI agents capable of carrying out tasks on a user’s behalf. But some employees said colleagues were using the software to inflate AI usage scores.

4. Roberto Cingolani, the head of Leonardo who was removed last month, won over investors with his technology push for the Italian state-controlled defence group. But his strategy unsettled the country’s military establishment.

5. France wants to see more forceful EU action taken against online platforms such as Shein and Temu for selling “dangerous” Chinese goods, as Paris continues its crackdown on ecommerce following a sex doll scandal. Read the full report.

The Big Read

Tariffs remain at the centre of Trump’s vision of government. But ahead of midterm elections, the US president is facing resistance in Congress, rising inflation and voters unhappy with his trade agenda.

We’re also reading . . . 

• AI and jobs: There is good reason to be dubious about the notion that automation will supplant all demand for human labour, writes Sarah O’Connor.

• Cyril Ramaphosa: South Africa’s president yesterday said he would not resign and would instead fight attempts to impeach him through the courts.

• Ukrainian politics: Authorities have issued an official ‘notice of suspicion’ to Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s former chief of staff as part of a corruption probe.

• African business: South Africa dominates while Kenya leapfrogs Nigeria into second place in the FT’s ranking of the continent’s fastest-growing companies.

Chart of the day

Alternative for Germany has seen a surge in support after the far-right party started criticising Trump’s war in Iran, capitalising on voter discontent with the government and with soaring fuel prices.

Take a break from the news . . .

In her memoir Ghost Stories, Siri Hustvedt writes movingly about the loss of her husband of 43 years — the American author Paul Auster. The Brooklyn brownstone, which the two bought in the early 1990s, plays a significant role in the book.