Wes Streeting has resigned as health secretary and called on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to step down, citing a lack of vision and a heavy-handed approach to dissent. In his resignation letter, Streeting said it would have been “dishonourable” to remain in post and urged a leadership contest with a broad range of candidates.
Streeting, a figure on the party’s right, has been gathering support for a challenge but stopped short of launching an immediate bid, suggesting he lacks the backing of 81 MPs required to trigger a contest. Allies indicated he hoped to stand in a leadership election if Starmer resigned, rather than challenge him directly.
The resignation follows a wave of departures by Streeting’s ministerial allies, including Jess Phillips, Zubir Ahmed and Alex Davies-Jones, who called for Starmer to go. Several other MPs, such as Melanie Ward and Joe Morris, have also urged the prime minister to resign.
Streeting criticised Starmer’s leadership in his letter, pointing to policy mistakes like the winter fuel allowance cut and the “island of strangers” speech. He wrote: “Where we need vision, we have a vacuum. Where we need direction, we have drift.” Starmer has said he will fight any challenge, and his allies maintain he does not have the necessary support to be forced out.
Potential leadership candidates include former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, energy secretary Ed Miliband, and Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, though Burnham would need to win a byelection first. The contest would be the first attempt to unseat a sitting Labour prime minister.
