Education minister Bridget Phillipson admitted she felt “sick to the bottom of [her] stomach” after seeing the devastating scale of Labour’s electoral losses this week. Sir Keir Starmer is facing calls to resign over the results, which saw the party lose control of swathes of historical strongholds. Speaking about Catherine West’s potential leadership challenge on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips (10 May), she said: “Catherine, like lots of other colleagues and like lots of candidates who stood in the elections that we've just had, are really hurting this morning.” Ms Phillipson added how Labour “got a real kicking from the voters” and “there’s no escaping that.”