BBC News host skewers squirming Liz Kendall on air after humiliating blow for Starmer

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall was left visibly rattled during a live BBC News interview as she squirmed under pressure over whether her position was "still tenable". It came after the Welfare Bill scraped through its second reading following a last-minute U-turn to head off a major Labour rebellion. During a tense interview, she was asked: "Is your position tenable you've been repeatedly humiliated in the last week?"

She began to squirm, saying: "Listening is a strength in politics as it is in life," before being cut off and asked again: "Will you carry on?" Her response was: "Absolutely I will carry on."

This comes as the Labour government's welfare bill has passed a House of Commons vote after another major concession to Labour rebels. The government was forced to abandon key aspects of its plans in order to quash Labour dissent.

The watering down of the legislation represents the most significant knock to the prime minister's leadership since coming into power last year.

It was revealed that 335 MPs voted in favour of the legislation on Tuesday night (July 1), while 260 voted against it, giving the government a winning majority of 75. Its actual majority is 165.

Kendall also admitted "there are lessons to learn" and confessed that "it's been a bumpy time" amid a surge of calls from the public to step down. It didn't take long before fans flooded to X - formerly known as Twitter to share their thoughts online.

One user fumed: "Liz Kendall must go she can't be trusted neither can starmer." Another penned: "Liz Kendall must go tonight if she does not starmer is proven to weak to lead."

Meanwhile, a third blasted: "Liz Kendall's position is untenable. What a shambles this govt is and those who voted for the bill should be ashamed of themselves as they don't know what they voted for."

A fourth argued that the bill passing was "utter humiliation" and that the real losers are the British public. They explained: "This is an utter humiliation for Liz Kendall, and for the Labour whips office. And a complete catastrophe for Rachel Reeves and the Treasury.

"But the real losers of course are us, the British public. This shambles means higher borrowing, higher taxes and four years of chaos."

Kendall tried to defend the revised plans, saying the government was determined to fix "the broken benefits system that we inherited from the party opposite, and to deliver a better life for millions of people across our country. The people we are in politics to serve deserve so much better than this!"

While the government won the vote, the process leading up to this point was a bruising one for Keir Starmer, with the Prime Minister having to offer a series of concessions to avoid a major Labour backbench rebellion.

There are also questions over how much money will be saved by the welfare reforms following the concessions. Initially, the government had planned to change the eligibility criteria for disability benefits for all new claimants from November 2026 but now the new system will not come into force until the review has concluded.