Wes Streeting, former UK health minister, said he is prepared to initiate a Labour leadership contest to replace Keir Starmer as soon as next week, claiming he has the backing of the 81 Labour MPs needed to trigger a ballot [1, 2, 3, 4]. Streeting urged Starmer to take time over the weekend to reflect and decide his future before a contest is triggered. "I would prefer the prime minister to take a decision on his own terms rather than leave it for me or Andy or anyone else to trigger a contest," Streeting said. "If not, we can’t carry on with this uncertainty and paralysis and there will need to be a contest and I would be prepared to do that" [1].
Keir Starmer, attending the G7 summit in France on June 17, reiterated his intention to fight any leadership challenge if launched. "If there is a challenge, I intend to fight in any challenge to my leadership," Starmer said [5]. He also expressed support for Andy Burnham, Greater Manchester mayor, who is expected to win the Makerfield parliamentary by-election held today, June 18, and return to Parliament, potentially creating a new leadership rival [1, 6, 3, 2, 4]. Starmer said Burnham is "a great asset" and he wants Burnham to have a "big role" in government if he wins the seat [3].
Burnham’s anticipated win will prompt a mayoral by-election in Greater Manchester, likely on July 30, with Labour candidate Bev Craig expected to run [6]. Some of Burnham’s supporters have expressed doubt about Streeting’s claim of having the required 81 MP backing for a contest, leading to questions over how strong the challenge could be at present [1, 3, 4].
John Healey, the UK defence minister, recently resigned, criticizing Starmer’s record on defence spending, adding to tensions within the party [5, 2]. Starmer warned against an immediate leadership contest and called for Labour to focus on holding the mayoral seat in Manchester instead [6, 5, 4].
The Labour leadership challenge debate is set to intensify following the Makerfield by-election result today. The next major political event is the Greater Manchester mayoral by-election scheduled for July 30 after Burnham steps down if he wins the parliamentary seat [6].
