Wes Streeting Plans To Quit Cabinet For Labour Leadership Bid

Wes Streeting is set to resign from cabinet and challenge Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership.

The health secretary is expected to quit on Thursday, triggering a fresh crisis for the prime minister.

Allies of Streeting said he has enough support from Labour MPs to launch a leadership campaign.

It comes after showdown talks between Streeting and Starmer lasted barely 15 minutes in Downing Street on Wednesday morning.

More than 80 Labour MPs – many of them Streeting supporters – have so far publicly called on the PM to quit in the wake of the party’s drubbing in last week’s elections.

Four ministers have also resigned, including junior health minister Zubir Ahmed, who is a former aide to Streeting.

The health secretary has made no public comments since Starmer told his cabinet rivals to put up or shut up at their weekly meeting on Tuesday amid mounting speculation he was set to face a leadership challenge.

Starmer said: “The country expects us to get on with governing. That is what I am doing and what we must do as a cabinet.”

Streeting is not expected to say anything on Wednesday so as not to overshadow the King’s Speech laying out the government’s plans for the next parliamentary session.

However, it seems increasingly unlikely that Starmer will still be the prime minister to deliver that programme.

Under Labour’s rules, any leadership challengers must have the support of 20% of MPs, which is currently 81.

Labour’s ruling national executive committee (NEC) will decide on the timetable of any leadership contest, and will come under intense pressure to delay it long enough for Andy Burnham to return to Westminster.

The Greater Manchester mayor is looking for a safe Labour seat to stand in, but faces a race against time as he cannot run to be leader unless he is an MP.

One of his supporters told HuffPost UK: “The NEC decides the timetable so wes triggering doesn’t stop Andy contesting. It would be outrageous for them to try and block the most popular politician in the country from standing.”

If Burnham does not stand, another soft-left candidate such as Ed Miliband or Angela Rayner will almost certainly run against Streeting.

Starmer will also automatically be on the ballot paper as the sitting Labour leader, although it is unknown whether he would want to take part.

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