Labour Hatches Internal Palace Coup To Oust PM Keir Starmer
UK’s Labour Party is rallying support for Wes Streeting to launch a leadership challenge capable of removing Keir Starmer on Thursday.
Streeting’s move to force a race has sparked a frantic scramble on the left of Labour to find a candidate to oppose him, with Ed Miliband and Angela Rayner both possible contenders.
The health secretary, who is considered to be on the Blairite right of the party, has been organising an attempt to oust the prime minister for days since Labour’s disastrous election results, despite his friends insisting he did not want to make the first move.
Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, is the favoured replacement for Starmer by many on the soft left, but does not yet have a seat despite trying to persuade several MPs to stand down for him. His latest hopes are said to be Afzal Khan or Jeff Smith, both Manchester MPs. Khan has said he is focusing on the job but some of his friends believe he is preparing to step aside. If he was to do so, it would be difficult for Burnham to fight a byelection and enter parliament in time for any leadership contest triggered this week. However, there could be huge pressure on Labour’s ruling body to delay any contest so that the mayor could run.
With Labour on the brink of civil war, Keir Starmer was calling ministers and MPs into his office in parliament to plead with them not to allow a competition to be triggered. He told MPs that “we can’t let a leadership contest plunge us into chaos” and that a “challenge would 100% do that”.
His cabinet allies, including Rachel Reeves, were also in the tea rooms of the House of Commons urging MPs to consider that a leadership election would paralyse the ability of the government to get things done.
Streeting was on Wednesday still working on getting the necessary 81 names to support his bid for the top job, with his outriders telling MPs that a contest was definitely on. The idea that Starmer had seen off a putsch was “laughable”, one added.
“No one has the numbers till the bell is struck, even canvassing isn’t real, people need certainty before they write their name down. But he thinks he’s got the numbers,” they said.
A second MP, also close to the Streeting camp, said they had been involved in discussions about getting the requisite numbers he would need to trigger a contest, and had begun ringing round MPs.
Two other MPs said they had been called by allies of Streeting on Tuesday evening to tell them: “He’s going for it.” Streeting is also known to have been calling MPs directly including some supporters of other candidates who were surprised to be rung.
Some of his opponents were still sceptical that he had the numbers, given that many of those who have called on Starmer to go so far are from the left of the party. Streeting had a brief 16-minute coffee meeting with Starmer on Wednesday, with neither side revealing what had been said.
Allies of Miliband, the energy secretary, said they believe he also has the required backing among MPs, while Rayner could also launch her own bid – although sources said she is still not dead set on being the left’s candidate.
Downing Street has insisted that Starmer would fight any challenge from Streeting and other candidates, having just set out a programme for government in the king’s speech that contains 30 new bills.
However, Starmer supporters were also hinting that Downing Street may increasingly be coming round to the idea that they could drop opposition to Burnham becoming an MP later in the parliament.
