Health Secretary Wes Streeting hit back at ‘juvenile’ claims he is plotting to force Keir Starmer to resign
Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Prime Minister Keir Starmer (Image: PA)
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has demanded Keir Starmer sack the “juvenile” Number 10 officials stirring up talk of a leadership plot. Mr Streeting was forced to deny reports that he has a plan to force Sir Keir to resign and become Prime Minister himself. Sir Keir’s aides had told journalists about the supposed plot in an effort stop Labour MPs supporting it.
But Mr Streeting hit back in television interviews this morning, saying: “What I’d say to the silly No 10 briefer is that every time they put these sorts of things out, whether it’s about me or anyone else, to be honest, it distracts from telling what I think is a positive story for Labour to tell. It stops us getting a Labour argument across, and that’s why it’s not just juvenile, it’s self-defeating.”
Asked if he knew who was responsible he said: “No. If I did, I would tell the Prime Minister and the Prime Minister would sack them. That’s the other thing I know about this Prime Minister: nothing grinds his gears more than this kind of like Westminster bubble stuff and the briefings to newspapers.”
Mr Streeting said: “You don’t see him angry often, but at Cabinet meetings, the only time I’ve seen him really angry is when there have been briefings against colleagues.”
Asked if Sir Keir Starmer had lost control of his No 10 operation, Mr Streeting said: “I wouldn’t put it like that, I would say there are some people in Downing Street who evidently do not model the behaviours and style of leadership that the Prime Minister models.”
Downing Street fears a coup is possible after tax increases are announced in the Budget later this month. Labour also fears losses in elections to the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments, and could lose control of Birmingham, the largest local authority in the UK, in local elections.
Allies of the Prime Minister are arguing that forcing him out would be a “reckless” and “dangerous” move that would hurt the public finances by pushing up the cost of borrowing, as well as damaging the UK’s relationship with allies such as the US.
Sir Keir is warning he will not go quietly and would stand again in any leadership contest.
While Number 10 is focused on Mr Streeting, the operation to shore up the Prime Minister’s position is designed to ward off any potential rivals who could also include former Deputy Leader Angela Rayner, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Environment Secretary Ed Miliband, who has been Labour leader once before.
An ally of the Prime Minister said: “Keir will not stand aside at this point, for Wes or anybody else.”
Another said: “We have a challenging situation in the PLP [parliamentary Labour party]. We know everything is a bit febrile and everybody is concerned. But the consequences of a leadership challenge would be enormous and people need to remember that,” the first senior ally said.
“If you chuck a leadership challenge in just 18 months into government you’d destabilise the markets, our allies and I don’t think the public would forgive us. The impact would be very serious. MPs need to think about the reality of what a challenge right now would mean.”
And they warned: “The party would not recover for a generation.”
