Wes Streeting has insisted he can win over the Labour left as he launches a shadow campaign for the party leadership, saying he has “beaten the odds” throughout his life and can do so again. The former health secretary, who called on Keir Starmer to resign as he quit the cabinet last week, warned Labour MPs that drifting on with Starmer in charge risked a Joe Biden situation that would usher in a Reform government.
Although there is no official leadership contest – Starmer is still in Downing Street and the favourite, Andy Burnham, is campaigning to win a byelection – Streeting said it was “inevitable” the prime minister would stand down. In an interview with the Guardian, the Ilford North MP set out his plans for government, including moving 175,000 children out of temporary accommodation, speeding up the establishment of a national care service, bringing in a wealth tax and “looking again” at plans for refugees.
Starmer’s political authority has been perhaps fatally undermined over the past two weeks after Labour’s devastating election results, with Streeting’s departure from the cabinet and Burnham’s selection to fight the Makerfield seat appearing, in the view of many MPs, to seal his fate. Many observers were sceptical that Streeting had the support of the 81 MPs required to trigger a leadership contest when he stood down. He insisted he had the necessary numbers but said he had held back because he would have been accused of pulling a “fast one” on Burnham if he had gone ahead before he was able to run.
Streeting denied he was motivated by unbridled ambition for the job, or that he was planning to abandon his run for the leadership and fall in behind Burnham, should he win the byelection, in order to secure a big job. “That’s not what motivates and drives me at all. I do think it’s inevitable that Keir has to go. I think he’s lost the support of much of his cabinet, lost the support of much of the parliamentary party, and as we saw a fortnight ago, he’s certainly lost the support of the country,” he said.
“I know that I start the race as the underdog, but I’ve been the underdog all my life. I’ve had to beat the odds – from the fact that I ended up in parliament rather than prison like my granddad, that I ended up going from one of the toughest state schools in London to one of the best universities in the country. People will say obviously Keir can’t lead us into the next general election. So you’re basically conceding there’s a problem … but you’re saying, let’s go on for just another couple of years of inertia and then change close to the election. That didn’t work out very well for Joe Biden and the Democrats.”
Although he trails Burnham in polls of Labour members, and is seen as being on the right of the party, Streeting believes he can still win over the Labour membership, and denied he was suddenly pitching left. “I think I can win. Yes, I think I can persuade people. The things I’m talking about in this campaign … these are things I’ve talked about throughout my career.”
