Britain’s health minister Wes Streeting announced on Thursday that he had resigned, plunging Keir Starmer’s premiership deeper into crisis as potential challengers positioned themselves for a possible leadership challenge.
Streeting, popular on the right of the ruling centre-left Labour party, stopped short of formally announcing a bid for the top job but called for the “best possible field of candidates” to run to replace Starmer.
It came after ex-deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, a left-wing figurehead amongst Labour’s grassroots, announced that she had cleared obstacles preventing her from running in any future race.
Starmer led his Labour party to victory in 2024 elections that ended 14 years of Conservative rule but is fighting for his political life after disastrous local and regional polls last week.
After days of calls by Labour lawmakers for the premier to quit or set a date for his departure, Streeting became the first senior minister to break ranks, saying he had “lost confidence” in Starmer’s leadership.
“It is now clear that you will not lead the Labour Party into the next general election”, scheduled for 2029, Streeting told Starmer in a resignation letter that he published on X.
Streeting accused Starmer of lacking vision and said a debate about what comes next for the ruling party “needs to be broad, and it needs to be the best possible field of candidates”.
Last Thursday’s election results, which saw huge gains for the hard-right Reform UK party and the left-wing populist Greens, compounded months of anger towards Starmer over his decision to appoint — and sack — ex-Jeffrey Epstein associate Peter Mandelson as his US envoy.
The polls also saw Labour lose control of the devolved Welsh parliament for the first time and fail to make up ground on the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) in the parliament in Edinburgh.
– ‘Change’ –
Four junior ministers have resigned, and more than 80 Labour MPs have urged Starmer to quit, but he has vowed to cling on and at least 100 lawmakers from the ruling party have called for him to stay.
The numbers highlight bitter divisions amongst the party’s 403 MPs that would likely deepen during any contest, which could last several months and distract the party from governing.
Starmer has vowed to fight any contest, pledging this week to do better and prove his doubters “wrong”. His spokesman insisted Thursday that he was “getting on with the job”.
Starmer has been backed by several senior cabinet ministers, including Finance Minister Rachel Reeves who urged colleagues Thursday not to put the economy “at risk” by “plunging the country into chaos” with a leadership challenge.
It is unclear whether Streeting has the required support of 81 Labour MPs — 20 percent of the party in parliament — to trigger a contest.
A source close to him insisted to AFP that he does but would prefer that Starmer set out a detailed timetable to step down instead.
A timetable could allow Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, popular on the party’s so-called soft left, to also run.
He is currently unable to do so as he does not have a seat in the Westminster parliament.
Rayner announced that UK tax authorities had “cleared” her of deliberate wrongdoing in a tax affair, opening the way for her to compete in any potential contest.
She had been forced to quit in September for underpaying a property duty.
The 46-year-old insisted she would not be the one to trigger a race but told the Guardian newspaper she would play “whatever role I can” to “deliver the change”.
Rayner has stopped short of calling for Starmer to resign but called on him to “reflect” on his position, having said voters are frustrated with the way the government is being run.
AFP