UK PM Starmer appoints Gordon Brown and Harriet Harman as advisers amid Labour election losses

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has appointed former prime minister Gordon Brown as envoy on global finance and former deputy leader Harriet Harman as adviser on women and girls, in a move to shore up support after Labour suffered historic losses in local and regional elections.

Brown, who served as prime minister from 2007 to 2010 and as chancellor under Tony Blair for a decade, will advise on financial partnerships for defence-related investments, particularly with Europe. A Downing Street statement said Brown would be "tasked with developing new international finance partnerships that can support defence and security-related investment, including measures that underpin the UK's relationship with Europe."

Harman, Labour's former deputy leader under Brown, will serve as the prime minister's adviser on women and girls, focusing on tackling violence and improving economic opportunities. A No 10 statement said Harman would "advise the PM on how to galvanise government to deliver for women and girls" and "work with ministers across government to drive an impactful agenda focusing on tackling violence against women and girls, unlocking economic opportunity and improving representation."

Both roles are part-time and unpaid.

Labour lost more than 1,400 councillors across England in the May 7 elections, shedding support to Reform UK and the Greens in traditional heartlands. In Wales, the party fell to nine Senedd seats, behind Plaid Cymru and Reform UK, losing power for the first time in a century.

Several Labour MPs have called on Starmer to set a timetable for his departure. Clive Betts, the long-serving Sheffield South East MP, and Debbie Abrahams, MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth, both urged him to set a date to hand over the leadership. Abrahams told the BBC on May 9: "We have to recognise the dangers that we're in now, that on this trajectory it doesn't look good." Asked how quickly he should consider departing, Abrahams said: "I think it is a matter of months."

Tony Vaughan, Labour MP for Folkestone, said in a post on X that there "must be an orderly transition of leadership well before the local elections next year." He added: "Some say we will look like the Tories if we change leader. But would they have done better if they'd kept Boris in despite partygate? Or kept Truss after she crashed the economy?"

Deputy leader Lucy Powell told the BBC it was time to end "this incessant speculation" about Starmer's position. "What I would say to people is, thinking that setting out some kind of timetable would put to bed issues of leadership, is actually the wrong conclusion here, because all that would do is [set] the starting gun of a, quite honestly, very distracting and ongoing debate about leadership," Powell said. She confirmed she would want Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, to be allowed to stand for parliament, but said this should not involve Burnham then challenging Starmer. "We don't do hospital takeovers in the Labour party. It's not what we're about."

Starmer has rejected resignation demands and is expected to give a speech on May 11 calling for closer ties with the EU.