Wes Streeting has issued a stark warning to Sir Keir Starmer, indicating he is ready to launch a Labour leadership contest as early as next week. This ultimatum is contingent on Andy Burnham securing victory in this week’s Makerfield by-election, prompting Mr Streeting to call for Sir Keir to establish a timeline for his departure.
The former health secretary asserted he commands the support of 80 MPs, the threshold required to enter a leadership contest. He publicly criticised Sir Keir on Tuesday, accusing him of failing to heed the concerns of both the party and his own Cabinet.
Amidst this internal Labour strife, the Prime Minister declared his intention to defy critics, vowing to “carry on with what I was elected to do” and “bring back the change that people desperately need” as he battles for his political survival.
Mr Streeting expressed his hope that Sir Keir would use the weekend to reflect and choose to depart “on his own terms” following the 18 June vote, which could pave the way for Mr Burnham’s return to Westminster and a potential challenge to the Prime Minister.
But pressed on whether he would trigger a contest if Sir Keir stayed put, as the Prime Minister has made clear he wants to, the ex-Cabinet minister told BBC Newsnight: “We can’t carry on with this uncertainty and paralysis, and there will need to be a contest, and I’d be prepared to do that.”
On how soon he would be willing to mount a challenge, Mr Streeting said he did not want to “get into, ‘is it Monday, is it Tuesday’”, but that Sir Keir should be given “space over the weekend” to consider his position.
Asked if he would challenge Sir Keir if the Greater Manchester Mayor does not win the Makerfield by-election, he told LBC’s Andrew Marr show: “Yes, I believe we need a change of leadership and if Andy Burnham isn’t back, I still believe we need that change of leadership.”
Criticising the Prime Minister, Mr Streeting told Sky News’ The Cathy Newman Show: “I don’t think he’s listening to his former defence secretary, I don’t think he’s listening to military chiefs, I don’t think he’s listening to our Nato allies.
“In terms of the Labour Party, I don’t think he’s listening to his Cabinet, I don’t think he’s listening to the parliamentary party and I don’t think he’s listening to voters, who only in May sent the Labour Party that extremely humbling message at the ballot box.”
Speaking to reporters earlier at a press conference in central London where he outlined his economic vision, the senior Labour figure said: “There is a huge amount of talent on the front bench and the back bench of the parliamentary Labour Party.
“It isn’t used nearly well enough, and the divides between Labour’s different tribes are often overstated.
“I think we all have a shared sense of what’s wrong. I think we have different views about how to put it right, but at the end of it, we need to come together.”
Mr Streeting’s diagnosis is that Labour is suffering from three problems at the moment: with leadership, with policy, and with culture.
He continued: “I would hope that after Thursday’s by-election, when the results are in, and I very much hope Andy Burnham wins – I was there yesterday campaigning for him again – when the results are in, I hope the Prime Minister will at that stage reflect on his own position and set out a timetable.
“I think that would be a better way forward for everyone, and would enable that better culture that we aspire to.”
Meanwhile, former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner heaped praise on Mr Burnham’s by-election campaign, saying he was winning over voters with a “new type of politics” in an interview with the Mirror.
She sidestepped questions on whether she would back the Greater Manchester Mayor but said it was “hard to escape the feeling that the public have had towards Keir”.
Asked if it was too late to achieve the change needed under Sir Keir’s leadership, she said: “I don’t think it’s too late for the Labour Party to deliver that, and that’s a different question.
“I know I’m not answering your question direct. I think that it’s hard to escape the feeling that the public have had towards Keir.”
The Prime Minister was asked about threats to his leadership by reporters as he attended the G7 summit in France.
“So very many times on my political journey, people have said to me it’s not possible,” he said.
“They said it’s not possible to turn the Labour Party around. It’s not possible to win an election.
“It’s not possible if you do win election, to invest in your public services and stabilise the economy – wrong every time, and that’s why I intend not to walk away from this, but to carry on with what I was elected to do, which is to serve this country, bring back the change that people desperately need in their lives.”
Mr Burnham is the favourite to win the by-election in the Greater Manchester constituency this week, multiple opinion polls have suggested.
His nearest challenger is Reform UK’s Robert Kenyon, though Nigel Farage’s political outfit is worried about losing voters to Restore Britain, a party which positions itself as more hardline than Reform on migration and other issues.
