Catherine West has threatened to launch a leadership bid that could topple the prime minister.
The Labour MP issued a momentous intervention after her party’s drubbing in the elections this week. On Saturday afternoon, West called on the cabinet to “reorganise themselves” and put forward their “best communicator” to replace Starmer. Speaking to BBC News in the wake of this week’s elections, the Labour MP and former Foreign Office said she was putting senior ministers “on notice”.
West said: “My preferred option is for the cabinet to do a reshuffle within itself, where there’s plenty of talent, and for Keir to be given a different role, which he might enjoy, perhaps an international role.”
If West succeeds in smoking out a more prominent leadership rival – be they Angela Rayner, Wes Streeting or another figure – it would not be the first time she has played a role in bringing down a prime minister.
An intervention from West during a December 2021 session of prime minister’s questions was later central to the House of Commons privileges committee inquiry into whether Boris Johnson misled parliament over “Partygate”.
On 8 December 2021, West asked the prime minister: “Will the prime minister tell the House whether there was a party in Downing Street on 13 November?”
Johnson responded: “No, but I am sure that whatever happened, the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times.”
In January 2022, following the publication of the Sue Gray report into Partygate, West asked whether Johnson had “inadvertently” misled this House in response to her previous question.
The scope of the privileges committee inquiry, which the commons agreed to in April 2022, explicitly referred to Johnson’s answer to West in December 2021. In giving evidence to the privileges committee, Johnson accepted that the House was misled but denied doing so deliberately.
As part of its conclusions, the privileges committee found: “Mr Johnson misled the House when he said on 1 December 2021 that all Guidance was followed completely in No. 10, when he said on 8 December 2021 that the Rules and Guidance were followed at all times”.
The committee ultimately recommended that Johnson be suspended from the House of Commons for 90 days. However, shortly before the publication of the report, Johnson announced his resignation as an MP.
West is the Labour MP for Hornsey and Friern Barnet, having first been elected to parliament for the predecessor seat of Hornsey and Wood Green at the 2015 general election.
In the 2024 general election, West won 28,535 votes, representing 58.7% of the vote. The Green Party candidate, Fabio Vollono, received 7,060 votes (14.5%), while the Liberal Democrat candidate, Dawn Barnes, secured 6,099 votes (12.5%). West was duly elected with a majority of 21,475 votes.
West was appointed as a trade envoy to Pakistan in January 2026. Appointed by the trade secretary, envoys are tasked with boosting British exports and attracting foreign investment. An envoy’s duties typically involve leading trade delegations, lobbying host governments on market access issues, and building relationships with overseas businesses.
West is also a member of the House of Commons Treasury select committee (since October 2025) – the committee tasked with scrutinising His Majesty’s Treasury and government policy on taxation and public spending.
West served as parliamentary under-secretary of state for the Indo-Pacific from July 2024 to September 2025. She left this role as part of Starmer’s 2025 shadow ministerial reshuffle.
Prior to the 2024 general election, which saw Labour returned to power after 14 years in opposition, West served as shadow minister for Asia and the Pacific (2021-2024), shadow minister for Europe and the Americas (2020-2021), shadow minister for sport (2020), and shadow minister for foreign and commonwealth affairs (2015-2017).
West was dismissed from the frontbench in June 2017 for voting against the Labour whip on an amendment supporting UK membership of the European Union single market.
West was a member of the House of Commons foreign affairs committee (2019-2019), the committees on arms export controls (2017-2019), and the international trade committee (2017-2019).
Before entering parliament, West served as a Labour councillor for Tollington ward on Islington London Borough Council from 2002 to 2014. She was leader of the council from 2010 to 2013.
West was one of 22 Labour MPs who nominated Emily Thornberry for the party’s leadership in early 2020. The election was triggered by the resignation of Jeremy Corbyn following the party’s defeat in the 2019 general election, which resulted in Labour’s fewest seats in the House of Commons since 1935.
Thornberry, then the shadow foreign secretary, was one of five candidates to reach the second stage of the contest. However, she was eliminated from the race on 15 February 2020 after failing to secure the required 33 nominations from Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs) or three affiliated groups. This left Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey, and Lisa Nandy as the three candidates on the final membership ballot.
West was one of 36 Labour MPs who nominated Jeremy Corbyn for the party’s leadership in June 2015. She may have been part of the group of MPs who lent their nominations to ensure Corbyn, a veteran backbencher, reached the threshold of 35 required to appear on the ballot, intending to “broaden the debate.” Following Corbyn’s landslide victory with 59.5% of the vote, several of these MPs expressed regret.
In March 2016, West was labelled as “core group plus” by the Corbyn leadership in a leaked list which categorised Labour MPs by their perceived loyalty. This label suggested the Corbyn leadership viewed West as a reliable supporter.
West supported Remain in the 2016 Brexit referendum, and therefore agreed with the vast majority of her constituents, 75% of whom also voted to Remain.
In February 2017, West voted against the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill. The legislation empowered the prime minister to notify the Council of the European Union of the UK’s intention to withdraw, formally triggering the process set out in Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. MPs supported the bill by 498 votes to 114 at second reading. In voting against the bill, West defied the party whip – one of 47 Labour MPs to do so.
West was a signatory to a 2017 statement issued by the Labour Campaign for Free Movement – a group established by Labour members and activists to advocate for the retention and extension of free movement rights following the UK’s vote to leave the European Union. At the time, Labour’s official position was that free movement would end at the point of Brexit in March 2019.
During the 2019 general election campaign, West was one of 193 Labour candidates to sign the anti-Brexit “Remain pledge”, drawn up by the campaign group Remain Labour.
The pledge stated: “Labour is committed to a confirmatory referendum, to give you the final say on Brexit. If elected as your Labour MP, I pledge to campaign to Remain in the EU.”
West voted in favour of the Starmer government’s flagship welfare bill at second reading. The vote came after ministers agreed to significant concessions to avoid defeat via a mass rebellion of Labour MPs on 1 July 2025.
West voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, better known as the assisted dying bill, at second reading (November 2024) and third reading (June 2025). On the third reading of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill in June 2025, West did not record a vote.
West voted against a government motion calling for the renewal of the Trident nuclear deterrent system in July 2016. The motion, which was passed by 472 votes to 117, committed the UK to constructing a new fleet of submarines to carry the nation’s nuclear weapons. Labour was split over the issue with 140 of its 230 MPs going against leader Jeremy Corbyn and backing the motion.
West voted against a government motion to extend UK airstrikes against Isis from Iraq into Syria in December 2015. The motion, which was passed by 397 votes to 223 after a ten-hour debate in the House of Commons, authorised the RAF to conduct strikes against Isis targets in Syria.
Born Catherine Elizabeth West in Mansfield, Victoria, Australia on 14 September 1966, she holds dual British and Australian citizenship.
West grew up in Sydney. She studied modern languages and social work at the University of Sydney.
She moved to the UK in 1998 and gained a master’s degree in Chinese studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.
West later worked as a social worker in Australia. She also worked as a caseworker for Labour MP David Lammy.
West is married to Colin Sutherland, co-director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine’s Malaria Centre. They have a daughter and a son.
She is a Quaker and speaks five languages including Mandarin. She developed her Mandarin whilst teaching English as a second language in Nanjing, China.
West is the great-great-niece of actor Italia Conti.
