Wes Streeting Announces He Will Not Run To Be Labour Leader, Backs Burnham

Wes Streeting has declared that he will not run to be the next Labour leader and has endorsed Andy Burnham to be Keir Starmer’s successor.

The former health secretary quit last month in frustration over Starmer’s leadership and suggested that he would challenge his premiership.

Streeting insisted he had 81 MPs backing him – the threshold needed to trigger a contest against the prime minister – but wanted to give Burnham a chance to get a seat in parliament so they could have a “battle for ideas”.

Burnham won the Makerfield by-election last week and was poised to challenge the prime minister until Starmer decided to resign on Monday morning.

Moments after the former Greater Manchester mayor announced he was running to be the next Labour leader and de facto prime minister, Streeting appeared to endorse him.

In a statement on X, he said: “After a devastating set of election results in May, the Makerfield by-election has proven that Labour can still win if we have the courage to change. It was a victory for unity and hope over division and hatred.

“It was also Andy Burnham’s victory.

“Andy has shown what Labour can be when we are inclusive, united, and in touch with the lives of the people this Party was founded to represent.”

He added: “Having spoken at length with Andy in recent days, I’m convinced that there is a place for those ideas under his leadership; that he is committed to building an inclusive party that draws on the best of our political traditions; and that he can win the fight of our lives against the forces of nationalism.

“We could spend the summer exaggerating small differences, or we can roll up our sleeves and help him to deliver the change our Party and our country needs. That is the choice that I am making and I hope that everyone else will back Andy, too.

“We were elected change our country, to show that politics can be a force for good, and to spread opportunity for everyone. With Andy, we still can.”