British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Saturday (May 9, 2026) appointed two veteran leaders in expert advisory roles at Downing Street after a disastrous local election for the governing Labour Party.

Former British Prime Minister and Chancellor Gordon Brown was named Special Envoy on Global Finance and Cooperation and former party leader and Cabinet Minister Harriet Harman as Adviser on Women and Girls.

The appointment of two senior party grandees came a day after Labour’s worst local election performance, losing hundreds of key strongholds across councils in England and ceding control of the devolved Welsh Parliament – casting a long shadow over the future of Mr. Starmer’s leadership.

“On both fronts (Mr. Brown and Ms. Harman) they are very future-looking roles; they’re vital to how we strengthen our country and take it forward,” Mr. Starmer told reporters.

“We have to set out the path ahead, and that’s what I intend to do in the coming days – how we rebuild, how we convince people about hope for the future. And we haven’t done enough of that,” he said.

He reiterated that he did not intend to walk away and “plunge the country into chaos” following the “tough” election results.

“We made unnecessary mistakes. One of which was that we, rightly in my view, levelled with the public about the challenges that we face as a country, both on the finances and internationally. But what we didn’t do enough was to convince them about the change that would impact them, and how their lives would be better. The hope wasn’t there enough in the first two years of this government,” he said.

“I think the right thing to do is to rebuild and show the path forward,” he said.

On the appointment of the two Labour Party grandees, Mr. Starmer said that as Britain’s longest-serving chancellor, Mr. Brown is well placed to work with international allies to boost the country’s security and resilience.

Meanwhile, Ms. Harman’s unpaid, part-time role will involve working with ministers across government to drive an “impactful agenda” focusing on tackling violence against women and girls, unlocking economic opportunity and improving representation, Downing Street said.

“The role will see her draw on work with women across Parliament to identify action needed to tackle misogyny and deliver greater opportunity for women in parliamentary and public life,” it stated.

The two new posts are being seen as Mr. Starmer’s attempt at bolstering support within the party ranks by addressing the cost-of-living challenges that led to voters turning away from the two main parties – the governing Labour and Opposition Conservatives.

The anti-immigration Reform U.K. emerged as the biggest beneficiary of this backlash, picking up hundreds of new councillors all over the country, and the far-left Greens and Liberal Democrats also made considerable gains.

Several Labour MPs have broken ranks to demand Mr. Starmer set out a timeline for his departure as party leader and PM following the sweeping losses, including in Scotland, where the Scottish National Party (SNP) is set to form the government and Labour is tied with Reform U.K. for second place.

Meanwhile, in Wales, a traditional Labour heartland, voters gave the regional centre-left Plaid Cymru a slim majority for the first time since devolution in 1999.