The website Wes for Leader was registered on Tuesday after rumours of a coup against Keir Starmer was reported.
The Wes for Leader website was registered on Tuesday (Image: Getty)
A Labour leadership row has intensified after a website called ‘Wes for Leader’ was registered. It comes after Wes Streeting was forced to deny orchestrating a coup against the Prime Minister. The website appears to have been created after the story broke of an alleged plot to oust Keir Starmer as Labour leader. But Health Secretary Wes Streeting said briefing about a potential leadership challenge was “daft” and that the “Prime Minister is not fighting for his job this morning”.
Asked if he would ever want to be prime minister, Mr Streeting told LBC: “I just think this is ridiculous. And no, the Prime Minister is not fighting for his job this morning. In fact, the last time I saw the Prime Minister on Monday evening with a small group of Cabinet colleagues, was to talk about how we’re going to fight the scourge of violence against women and girls. So I think this is daft, to be honest.”
Twitter users suggested that the website had added to Number 10 fears that Keir Starmer faces a battle for survival with Labour colleagues plotting to replace him.
Wes Streeting has denied claims he is behind a plot – and said he could not see any circumstances in which he would challenge Sir Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership.
Asked whether he would rule out standing against Sir Keir in the future, he told BBC Breakfast: “I cannot see circumstances in which I would do that to our Prime Minister.”
He added: “I also think that taking on that job feels like more of a punishment than anything else at the moment, given how hard the Prime Minister’s job is, that’s why he’s got full support.
“That’s why I constantly support him in the job that he’s doing. And I’ve always been a team player. That is how I do things, and that’s how I will always do things.”
The chairwoman of the Red Wall group of Labour MPs said “this is neither the time or the place” for briefing about a leadership challenge.
Bassetlaw MP Jo White told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Our enemies love nothing more than when we start fighting like dogs in public, and my message to those MPs who are running around with their tails held high: That this is neither the time or the place.
“This is a group of people who think they’re much cleverer than the rest of us, who spend their time selectively briefing journalists and stirring the pot. I want to simply say: We’re not having it.
“I’m not aware of a single person in the red wall group who’s involved in this. And if anyone, including Wes Streeting, wants to make a move, they would have to speak to us. He’s a London MP and it hasn’t happened and it’s not true.”
