The Prime Minister is on borrowed time. His authority is ebbing away, his voters are turning against him, and his senior team is in a state of political warfare.

Yesterday, the Reverend Starmer insisted he will lead Labour into the next general election. But this is now a fantasy.

It’s already almost impossible for him to govern after 16 months in office. Keir Starmer’s approval ratings are the lowest for any prime minister since records began.

The Green Party is taking Labour’s left-wing support, and on the right, Reform is consistently ahead in the polls. It is the British people who suffer.

A new YouGov poll shows the public is turning on Keir Starmer. A mere 27 per cent want him to remain as leader, while 50 per cent want him to resign.

The same research shows those who voted Labour last year express a similar sentiment: 23 per cent want him to step down and only 34 per cent of Labour voters want him to be the leader at the next election.

But we are three-and-a-half years away from a general election.

What matters at this point is government support from ministers and MPs and the Prime Minister is losing both.

Last week, a battle of briefings was exposed in Downing Street.

Rumours swirled that the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, was accusing Wes Streeting, the health secretary, of arranging a coup, leading the health secretary to criticise a toxic culture in No10.

Clive Lewis, a Labour MP, has called for the Prime Minister’s resignation. Now, mind you, he is a bit of a troublemaker.

Anyway, there had been talk of up to 50 frontbenchers resigning if next week’s budget doesn’t go well.

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Regarding the Budget, a series of leaks and drip-fed hokey cokey announcements has weakened the credibility of both Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves.

Next week’s autumn statement is being touted as the moment to stabilise the economy, but instead we can expect weak growth, unsustainable public spending, and possible tax rises, despite repeated promises last year that that was it and they wouldn’t be coming back for more.

The situation is becoming untenable for both the Prime Minister and the Chancellor. U-turns are already in the pipeline, and the fictional black hole changes every week.

Then yesterday, the Home Secretary announced plans to overhaul the asylum system, tightening the grounds for asylum appeals and introducing more frequent reassessments, allowing the Home Office to make decisions based on its own discretion.

Stopping the boats was Labour’s flagship election pledge, whatever they were going to do to the gangs, when they were going to smash the gangs and it was the one on which the public will judge the Prime Minister.

But in the process of fulfilling this, the Labour backbench rebellion has already begun. Twenty-one Labour MPs have expressed opposition to the proposals, already making comparisons to the far-right.

These plans will not be passed on Labour MPs’ votes. If they are to succeed, they will need support from the Tories.

The Prime Minister no longer has the backing of his party. He is in office but not in power. He is incapable of governing while firefighting rebellions and facing internal dissatisfaction.