Keir Starmer Faces Leadership Challenge as Rivals Circle

LONDON — Keir Starmer is facing the biggest rebellion of his time in office. And his rivals are circling. All eyes were on Health Secretary Wes Streeting Wednesday amid briefings he will resign from the government — and trigger a leadership challenge against the British prime minister. Two Labour MPs, including one close to the health secretary, told POLITICO they had been informed Streeting plans to resign and challenge the PM. “Wes is the Health Secretary, he is proud of his record of falling waiting lists and a recovering NHS,” a spokesperson for Streeting said. Streeting is the most prominent contender right now in a field of imperfect challengers to the British PM, who is reeling from dire elections results and a longstanding sense of drift in his administration. Who is Wes Streeting? The combative health secretary — who became an MP in 2015 — was a leading rebel when the hard left Jeremy Corbyn was Labour leader. One of the most right-leaning members of Starmer’s center-left Cabinet, he is often described as a Blairite — the Westminster shorthand for a politician aligned with the centrist politics of ex-British PM Tony Blair. Seen as one of the government’s top communicators, Starmer has often turned to the 43-year-old in times of difficulty to go out and defend his administration. MPs reckon Streeting has the support of the 80 colleagues in the House of Commons required to launch a challenge (despite counter-briefings from Team Starmer that he hasn’t). “Of course he’ll have the numbers,” said one MP who praised the health secretary’s “stunningly good” operation. Another Wes-supporting MP however claimed Wednesday they had not been asked to put their name to anything. “There’s no list,” they said. If a leadership contest does kick off, Streeting could fall at the final hurdle against a soft-left candidate more sympathetic to the views of party members who will ultimately decide the next prime minister in a leadership contest. Streeting’s tiny majority in the London constituency of Ilford North, where he faces a heavy challenges from independents concerned about the Middle East, could also be a problem — as well as his historic ties to disgraced British ambassador to Washington Peter Mandelson. Who are the other contenders? 1) Angela Rayner Rayner was Starmer’s deputy prime minister until she was forced to resign last fall. She worked closely with Starmer preparing for power in opposition, and became housing secretary after the 2024 general election. Her left-wing politics make her a popular figure among Labour members. She was elected Starmer’s deputy in 2020, making her a powerful figure in government with her own mandate. Rayner stood down last year after failing to pay the correct amount of tax when purchasing a property. Since returning to the backbenches she’s made regular interventions on subjects ranging from renters and workers rights to proposed immigration reforms. But a probe into her tax affairs by the U.K. tax collector remains unresolved, complicating any immediate bid to replace Starmer. 2) Andy Burnham Burnham has stood in (and lost) Labour leadership elections before. He was a Cabinet minister at the tail end of the last Labour government. He twice ran for the top job unsuccessfully in 2010 and 2015, losing on the latter occasion to Corbyn. In 2017 he left Westminster to become Greater Manchester’s first directly elected mayor, winning three regional elections. He was subsequently dubbed “king of the north.” He is one of the rare Labour politicians who polls well, but his path to power is hampered by not being an MP in Westminster. Earlier this year, Burnham applied to reenter the Commons in a Greater Manchester by-election, but his candidacy was blocked by Labour’s ruling body. To join the race to replace Starmer he must first find an MP willing to give up their seat, persuade the ruling National Executive Committee to let him stand… and win what could be a vicious by-election fight. Westminster is currently watching to see if anyone stands aside for him in the coming days. 3) Ed Miliband Another big figure on the soft-left, the energy secretary has been here before. Miliband became Labour leader — beating his brother David Miliband — in 2010, though lost the subsequent 2015 general election to the Tories. A longtime ally of Starmer, Miliband has extolled the benefits of achieving net zero through cheap, home grown energy. The ex-Labour leader has repeatedly insisted he doesn’t want the top job again. But with the other soft-left contenders facing big hurdles for the top job, his supporters could yet persuade him to be the standard bearer in an imminent leadership contest. A dark horse? Labour has more than 400 MPs, meaning the pool of possible leadership contenders is huge. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has called on Starmer to consider laying out and orderly transition, while fellow Cabinet minister and Defence Secretary John Healey could pitch as a safe pair of hands in a volatile world. Watch for little-known ministers or even backbenchers to emerge from the shadows and present themselves as a totally fresh start from Starmer. Defence Minister Al Carns, a former regular Royal Marines officer, this week penned a near 1,000 word piece for the New Statesman on “How Labour Can Win Again.”