Health secretary Wes Streeting has resigned from the cabinet and is expected to force a Labour leadership contest, as Sir Keir Starmer fights to save his increasingly-threatened premiership. The Independent first revealed on Monday that Mr Streeting was expected to launch a leadership bid as his supporters led the way in urging the prime minister to step aside after a bruising set of local election results.
The prime minister said he took responsibility for the results, which saw the Labour Party lose almost 1,500 councillor seats, but insisted he would not walk away. The elections were widely touted as judgement day for Sir Keir and he was hit by Nigel Farage's Reform UK snatching councils, some of which had been held by Labour for generations, in northern England, while Zack Polanski's Green Party lured voters away from him in former urban strongholds, including taking control of some London authorities.
On Monday, Sir Keir gave a make-or-break speech intended to avert any leadership challenge and reassert his authority, but it was followed by dozens of Labour MPs calling for him to stand down or to provide a timetable to ensure an orderly transition of power. Cabinet ministers have also encouraged Sir Keir to consider his position, opening a window for some rumoured Labour leadership candidates – some of whom are said to have been planning their challenges for months – to finally strike.
Andy Burnham
Popular among Labour MPs, party members and the general public, the mayor of Greater Manchester has been hinting at a leadership bid for months. Recent YouGov polling puts Mr Burnham, who was MP for Leigh from 2001 to 2017, far ahead of any other Labour figure in popularity polls, with 34 per cent of Britons thinking he would do a better job than Sir Keir. Last year, Mr Burnham repeatedly failed to rule out a leadership bid and has been regularly tipped as the leading candidate to take over should Sir Keir's position as prime minister become untenable. He is currently unable to launch an official bid as he is not a sitting MP. However, Josh Simon's decision to stand down as the MP for Makerfield opens the door for Mr Burnham to run for a Westminster seat, although he faces a tough battle to see off the threat of Reform.
Angela Rayner
Rumours about the Ashton-under-Lyne MP's ambitions have been circling from the moment she resigned from Sir Keir's cabinet last September, when it was revealed she had underpaid stamp duty on her Brighton flat, but she has now been cleared of wrongdoing - potentially clearing the way for a run at the party leadership. Once the prime minister's number two, Rayner is popular on the soft left of the party and has been named as one of the MPs most likely to stage a coup. She made an intervention on Sunday, releasing a statement which appeared to show support for Mr Burnham and told the prime minister that blocking the mayor's bid to stand in Gorton and Denton was a mistake. In a stark warning to Sir Keir, she added: "Labour exists to make working people better off. That is not happening fast enough, and it needs to change, now." In an interview with The Guardian on Thursday, she did not rule out running in any Labour leadership race but said she would not "trigger" a contest.
Wes Streeting
The health secretary announced his resignation on Thursday lunchtime, which is expected to start the process of finding a new Labour leader. In his statement announcing his departure from the cabinet, he said it is "now clear" that Sir Keir will not lead the party into the next general election. He added: "Labour MPs and Labour Unions want the debate about what comes next to be a battle of ideas, not of personalities or petty factionalism. It needs to be broad, and it needs the best possible field of candidates. I support that approach and I hope that you will facilitate this." Mr Streeting is understood to have the backing of enough Labour MPs to launch a leadership bid, having recruited more than 81 – the minimum required to trigger a leadership election. Sir Keir was reportedly alerted to Mr Streeting's intentions when a Downing Street staff member was accidentally texted details of his bid, including the "five pillars" of his campaign and his "PFG", meaning plan for government. In the centre-right of the party, he is a charismatic cabinet minister who is able to connect with the public. The main obstacle facing Mr Streeting is the perception among some Labour factions that he is too far to the right of the party, and the general feeling that he does not have enough backing to launch a successful bid. His public popularity ratings are also low, with only 13 per cent of voters thinking he would do a better job than Sir Keir.
Ed Miliband
Ed Miliband has emerged as an unexpected contender to be the prime minister, more than 10 years since he led the party to defeat in the 2015 general election. But in his time away from the leadership, the energy secretary has carved a niche for himself as the party's top advocate for green energy and net zero. Surprisingly popular among young people, speculation has been rife that Mr Miliband is preparing an attempt to make a comeback as leader, with suggestions he could be the candidate from the party's soft left. The recent Mandelson scandal has seen him grow increasingly critical of the government, telling broadcasters that he had raised concerns about the appointment with David Lammy at the time. A Miliband supporter told The Independent recently: "He has the energy and enthusiasm. He is loved by younger members of the party. He is a new man from when he was last leader." Backers of the energy secretary say he also has the numbers to launch a bid but polling suggests only 13 per cent of voters think he would do a better job than the current prime minister.
