British Health Secretary Wes Streeting at the House of Commons in London on Wednesday.Toby Melville/The Associated Press
Britain’s Health Secretary Wes Streeting is expected to launch a run for leadership of the Labour Party as early as Thursday, marking the start of a divisive campaign to push out Keir Starmer as party leader and Prime Minister after less than two years in office.
Mr. Streeting’s supporters have told several British news media outlets that he will resign from cabinet soon to clear the way for a leadership contest. At least two other candidates are also expected to come forward, while Mr. Starmer has indicated that he will take on any challengers.
The Health Secretary met with Mr. Starmer briefly on Wednesday in Downing Street. Both declined to comment afterward so as not to detract from the State Opening of Parliament and a Throne Speech from King Charles III.
Mr. Starmer has been under increasing pressure to resign after the Labour Party posted disastrous results in local elections last week. Nearly 100 Labour MPs have called on him to step down and four junior cabinet ministers have resigned, saying they could no longer work with the Prime Minister.
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On Monday, Mr. Starmer vowed to press ahead in a speech that also included a promise of greater integration with the European Union. He reiterated the pledge during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday and dared challengers to come forward.
“The Labour Party has a process for challenging a leader and that has not been triggered,” he said at the start of the meeting. “The country expects us to get on with governing. That is what I am doing and what we must do as a cabinet.”
Under party rules, a leadership contest can be triggered if 81 of the 403 Labour MPs nominate a challenger to Mr. Starmer. Mr. Streeting is believed to have met that threshold. His launch could prompt other contenders to come forward, so long as they have also been nominated by at least 81 MPs.
Mr. Starmer would be allowed to run in a leadership race without being nominated, and the balloting would also include votes from affiliated unions and party members. No sitting Labour prime minister has ever been forced out.
Mr. Streeting, 43, has been a London-area MP since 2015 and is seen as an effective communicator. As Health Secretary, he has won plaudits for introducing several reforms to the health service and improving patients’ rights.
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He grew up in social housing in East London, the son of two teenage parents. In his 2023 memoir – One Boy, Two Bills and a Fry Up – Mr. Streeting wrote about how his 18-year-old mother, Corrina, defied her mother’s wishes to get an abortion by eating a fry-up breakfast before her clinic appointment: She’d been told not to eat beforehand and the abortion had to be cancelled. The two Bills were his grandfathers; one a convicted thief and the other a Navy veteran.
Mr. Streeting studied at the University of Cambridge and became the first in his family to earn a university degree. He served on local council in London before running for Parliament.
He has survived kidney cancer and written about being gay. “Coming out in Cambridge felt liberating. Coming out at home felt terrifying,” he wrote, adding that he shouldn’t have worried as his family offered their full support.
Mr. Streeting’s candidacy faces several drawbacks.
He has had a close association with Peter Mandelson, Britain’s former ambassador to the United States who was fired from the diplomatic post because of his long association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The handling of Mr. Mandelson’s appointment, which Mr. Streeting backed, has been a major headache for Mr. Starmer.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has sought to quell a mounting rebellion in his Labour Party and stay in power to avoid plunging Britain into a new political crisis. But after disastrous local election results and several political scandals, Starmer is deeply unpopular and facing mounting pressure from his own lawmakers to quit. Who is waiting in the wings to replace him?
Reuters
Mr. Streeting barely won his constituency in the 2024 election even though Labour scored a massive victory across the country. And he could face an even tougher challenge in the next election given how far Labour has fallen in public support.
He is also considered to be on the right side of the party. This could pose a problem among the membership, which is seen as generally more leftist. The two other likely candidates – former deputy party leader Angela Rayner and Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham – are considered far more popular among MPs and party members.
Rob Ford, a professor of political science at the University of Manchester, said Mr. Starmer could likely win a head-to-head contest against Mr. Streeting, “simply because Wes Streeting is very unpopular with the Labour membership.”
He added: “I’m not sure anybody would consider it to be a great choice.”
But even if Mr. Starmer won, “I don’t think it would save him in the long run, because at this point his authority is just shot to bits,” Prof. Ford said. “What would defeating an even more divisive figure really achieve? Probably just stave off the day of reckoning.”