• Formal contest to replace Starmer yet to be triggered.
• Cabinet ministers express support for the PM.
• Prime Minister Starmer signals he will fight on.
  

LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was struggling to hold on to power after his main rival in the government resigned on Thursday, accusing him of political drift, and others positioned themselves for potential challenges to his leadership.

Disastrous results for the governing Labour Party in local elections last week have plunged Britain into a new crisis, just under two years after Starmer won a large majority on a vow to bring stability and end a decade of political chaos.

After days of calls by Labour lawmakers for Starmer to quit or set out a timetable for his departure, Wes Streeting resigned as health minister, the first senior minister to break cover. He said he was standing down because “it is now clear you will not lead the Labour Party into the next general election”.

While Streeting did not trigger a formal contest, potential rivals to the prime minister, such as Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, started positioning themselves for a possible leadership challenge that Starmer has said he will fight.

Streeting criticised his former boss in a resignation letter which said he was standing down to allow a wide debate about what comes next, one which the Labour movement wanted to focus on ideas rather than personalities or factions.

“It needs to be broad, and it needs the best possible field of candidates,” Streeting wrote.

Streeting says Britain needs vision

“Where we need vision, we have a vacuum. Where we need direction, we have drift,” Streeting said in pointed remarks about Starmer. “Leaders take responsibility, but too often that has meant other people falling on their swords.”

A source close to Streeting said the former health minister had enough support to mount a formal leadership challenge but had not triggered an immediate contest because he felt it would be preferable for Starmer to set out an orderly timetable.

Starmer responded with a letter expressing regret Streeting had stepped down, saying “it is incumbent on all of us to rise to what I see as a battle for the soul of our nation” and “turn the page on the chaos”.

He swiftly appointed one of his supporters, James Murray, as Streeting’s replacement.

The British leader has said he will battle to keep his job, and sources close to him say he is determined to fight any leadership contest.

The pound edged lower after Streeting’s resignation and news that Burnham would seek to return to parliament.

Potential candidates face off against Starmer loyalists

Another possible candidate in any leadership contest, Starmer’s former deputy, Angela Rayner, said earlier on Thursday that she had been cleared of deliberate wrongdoing over her tax affairs, an impediment to challenging the prime minister. But she would not say whether she wanted to launch a formal bid.

Burnham was also offered a path for a possible leadership challenge. After a Labour lawmaker in Greater Manchester said he would resign from his parliamentary seat, Burnham said he would seek permission to stand as Labour’s candidate.

He would have to win an election for that seat to be able to challenge Starmer – an aim he stopped short of voicing.

“Much bigger change is needed at a national level if everyday life is to be made more affordable again. This is why I now seek people’s support to return to parliament,” he said on X.

Another potential candidate is armed forces minister Al Carns, a former Royal Marine seen by some in Labour as a new face who could freshen up the party.

But Starmer still enjoys some support. Education Minister Bridget Phillipson repeated her backing for Starmer and suggested the rest of his cabinet team of top ministers were also supportive.

“This is now a chance for us to pause, take a breath as a party and try and draw a line under all of this,” she said.

Starmer, 63, has adopted a “business-as-usual” approach, and finance minister Rachel Reeves warned lawmakers against plunging Britain into chaos when its anaemic economy was turning a corner. The economy grew unexpectedly in March.

Business leaders fear another leadership race to choose what would be Britain’s seventh prime minister in about a decade would deter investment — something the Labour government has said must improve to turn around Britain’s fortunes.

The political instability has pushed borrowing costs higher, with some investors nervous about the possible election of a more left-wing, tax-and-spend Labour prime minister.

“There have been too many changes of government strategy, leadership, just in my six years of being CEO,” Amanda Blanc, boss of insurance company Aviva, told Reuters. “And I think that is harmful to a major economy such as the UK and how we are perceived abroad.”

• Gales, lightning and rain batter state.
• More than 200 homes damaged.
• Aid ordered for affected families.

New Delhi: Powerful storms that swept across India’s northern Uttar Pradesh state this week killed at least 111 people, government officials said, raising an earlier death toll as more districts reported casualties.

Gales, lightning and torrential rain battered the state on Wednesday, ripping tin roofs from buildings and uprooting trees that blocked roads, footage broadcast on television showed.

Uttar Pradesh, home to more than 240 million people, is frequently hit by storms during the summer months ahead of the monsoon rains, with lightning strikes a regular cause of death.

The Relief Commissioner’s office, the state aid agency, had initially said that on May 13, 89 people had been killed and 72 injured, with more than 200 homes damaged.

It later updated the toll to 111 dead as more reports came in, according to published remarks in The Hindu newspaper on Friday.

“Reports of 111 deaths were received,” the statement read, adding that 72 people were injured.

The Times of India reported the toll at 117, but AFP was not able to immediately confirm the figure.

One video, widely shared by Indian media, appeared to show a man hurled high into the air in the state’s Bareilly district, as a building roof was torn off.

AFP was unable to immediately verify the video, but the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency spoke to a survivor in hospital who said he was the man seen in the video.

Nanhe Ansari, a labourer, said he was trying to secure a tin roof with a rope when an intense gust lifted the sheet metal, and he clung on.

“The tin sheet started shaking due to strong winds, so I asked them to bring a rope to tie it down,” he told PTI from his hospital bed.

“While some of us were holding it and one person was tying it, a very strong gust of wind came. My grip did not loosen, and I was lifted nearly 50 feet (15 metres) into the air along with the tin sheet and thrown about 80 feet away,” he added.

“The sheet fell first, and then I fell into a maize field filled with water. I thought I would not survive, but I did.”

India’s weather office has in recent years warned of an increase in extreme weather events, including intense thunderstorms and lightning, which experts link to rising temperatures and changing climate patterns.

The statement said officials have been instructed to distribute financial aid to the affected families.

The violent weather that tore across Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday was part of widespread pre-monsoon thunderstorm activity triggered by unstable atmospheric conditions.

LONDON: An Indian national mosque imam from East London who raped and sexually assaulted women and girls as young as 12 after telling them he had supernatural powers (jinns) has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 20 years.

The Indian national, Abdul Halim Khan, abused his position as a respected faith leader to abuse seven women and girls from the Muslim community between 2005 and 2014, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.

The 54-year-old, of Old Forde Road, east London, was an imam at a mosque who persuaded each of the victims into meeting him at isolated places including flats and quiet, hidden locations, to tell them he would heal them through jinns to bring happiness to their lives and to get them rid of the jinns, prosecutors said.

Khan would then rape or sexually abuse the victims under the premise he would be possessed or disguised as a jinn (supernatural spirit), the court heard.

The victims felt they had to keep these acts secret from family and friends for fear of doing them harm via “black magic”, prosecutors said.

Judge Leslie Cuthbert, sentencing, said: “Behind a public appearance of propriety and holiness you took monstrous advantage of women who trusted you, all for your own sexual satisfaction. You brazenly raped and sexually assaulted seven females – both children and young women. You behaved as if you were untouchable. You were confident that none of the victims, who came from the same community in which you were an imam, would overcome the potential shame and stigma they might sadly feel, or be exposed to, by reporting you.

“You were confident that if they did come forward it would be you and not they who would be believed.”

The judge said that Khan’s criminality “may rightly be called an unrestrained campaign of rape and abuse of women and girls”, adding: “It is the work of a serial rapist and child abuser but it is impossible for me to encapsulate succinctly the devastation you have caused.”

He added: “I am sure that you continue to represent a grave danger to girls and women who might be persuaded to be alone with you and that risk will persist for the foreseeable future especially given that certain members of the community continue to hold you in high esteem.”

Khan was convicted of 21 offences of rape and sexual assault.

One of Khan’s victims, who said she was a child when she was abused, tearfully told the court: “To me, Khan is not a human being, he is evil personified.”

She said fear was instilled in her through Khan’s “lies and manipulation”, saying that he hid “under the guise of a religious man”.

The woman said that Khan “stole the autonomy I should have had over my own body” and that she was “caged” into staying silent because of his threats about members of her family.

She added: “He is a danger to society and he will continue being a danger for as long as he lives.”

Another victim, who was also a child when the abuse took place, said in her statement read to the court that she was left “terrified, confused and powerless”.

She said Khan used his position of authority to “terrorise” her, adding that he “exploited” her faith and vulnerability.

Police first became aware of Khan’s offending in February 2018 when the youngest victim reported Khan to a teacher at her school, Scotland Yard said.

In his interviews, Khan repeatedly denied the allegations, stating it was a conspiracy and the victims had concocted a story for revenge, the force added.

The court heard that the defendant maintains his innocence.

He was found guilty in February of nine counts of rape; four counts of sexual assault; two counts of sexual assault of a child under 13; five counts of rape of a child under 13 and one count of assault by penetration.

Melissa Garner, specialist prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Abdul Halim Khan abused his position as a trusted religious leader to prey on women and girls over many years, manipulating and controlling them for his own sexual gratification.

“He used their deeply held beliefs to instil fear and silence them, making them believe their families would be at risk if they ever spoke out.”

Detective Chief Inspector Jennie Ronan, whose team led the investigation, said: “Abdul Khan presented himself as a respectable man who could be trusted. However, this was far from the truth, and he instead preyed upon and took advantage of others.

“Today, I want to focus on the victim-survivors, who have shown remarkable bravery in reporting Khan and great strength throughout the trial.

“We hope that today’s outcome provides a measure of comfort as they continue to rebuild their lives and serves as a reminder to anyone who has experienced sexual violence that support is available.

“We remain absolutely committed to tackling violence against women and girls, targeting dangerous offenders and removing them from London’s streets.”