Streeting signals Labour leadership challenge as Starmer faces pressure

Wes Streeting has moved from warning to open threat, saying he was prepared to trigger a Labour leadership contest and urging Sir Keir Starmer to make a decision on his own terms rather than be forced out. The former health secretary said the party could not keep living with “this uncertainty and paralysis”, and signalled that the pressure around Starmer was now serious enough to bring a challenge within days.

Streeting told BBC Newsnight he would prefer the prime minister to reflect over the weekend and decide whether to leave after the June 18 Makerfield by-election, which could send Andy Burnham back to Westminster. He also said he was not interested in whether the contest came on Monday or Tuesday, but wanted Starmer given “space over the weekend” to consider his position. Speaking on Sky News, Streeting said he did not want Starmer forced out, but added that a contest would be inevitable if the prime minister stayed put. On LBC, he said he would still back a change of leadership even if Burnham did not win the by-election.

The timing matters because Streeting’s intervention came as Labour’s internal discipline looked increasingly fragile. He claimed he had the backing of the 80 MPs needed to stand in a contest, and said Starmer had failed to listen to his Cabinet, the parliamentary party, military chiefs, Nato allies or voters. He pointed to Labour’s “extremely humbling message” at the ballot box in May as evidence that the party’s current course was losing support.

Starmer has insisted he will not walk away from No 10. He said he would “carry on with what I was elected to do” and “bring back the change that people desperately need.” But under Labour’s current rules, introduced in their present form in 2021, a leadership challenge can be triggered only if an MP challenger secures nominations from 20% of Labour MPs, a higher threshold than the 10% required before the rule change.

If Starmer were to leave office while still prime minister, the House of Commons Library says the Cabinet, in consultation with the National Executive Committee, would appoint an interim party leader until a ballot could be organised. With the Makerfield vote due later this week and Andy Burnham’s possible return to parliament hanging over it, Streeting’s comments have sharpened the question at the heart of Labour’s instability: pressure tactic, prelude to a contest, or the start of a wider breakdown in party discipline.