Embattled UK prime minister to meet leadership rival in the face of backbench revolt

LAST UPDATE | 13 hrs ago

UK PRIME MINISTER Keir Starmer is to meet one of his biggest leadership rivals as he seeks to face down a Labour revolt.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting is expected to meet Starmer on Wednesday morning, the Press Association understands.

The meeting will come after Labour descended into open division over the prime minister’s future.

A number of cabinet ministers told the media that they are backing him following a crunch meeting this morning at which the Labour leader said he was going to get on with governing. 

Starmer is defying mounting calls to quit, with around a fifth of Labour’s 403 MPs calling for him to go after the party’s electoral mauling last week. 

Four ministers have resigned from the government today, including junior minister Jess Phillips, who said in a letter that she believed Starmer was a “good man” but that is “not enough”. 

Health minister Zubir Ahmed, an ally of Streeting, is also among the junior ministers to exit the government.

It is understood that Streeting, widely seen as a leadership hopeful, will not say anything after the meeting that could distract from the King’s Speech.

The Times said he is expected to discuss the “turbulence” gripping the party and how Starmer will “get us out of this mess”.

According to Downing Street, Starmer told his Cabinet: “As I said yesterday, I take responsibility for these election results and I take responsibility for delivering the change we promised.

“The past 48 hours have been destabilising for government and that has a real economic cost for our country and for families.

The Labour Party has a process for challenging a leader and that has not been triggered.

“The country expects us to get on with governing. That is what I am doing and what we must do as a Cabinet.”

In a highly unusual move, a number of Cabinet ministers marched straight over to journalists outside Downing Street to declare their support for Starmer. 

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Business secretary Peter Kyle told Sky News the cabinet meeting was “very purposeful” about the “big issues facing our economy and society,” adding that Starmer “is showing steadfast leadership”. 

Technology secretary Liz Kendall also said Starmer has her “full support”, telling Sky’s Beth Rigby: “Let me just say this – there is a process to challenge the leader. No one has made that challenge.”

Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden told reporters that no one challenged Starmer during the cabinet meeting, adding that there were “many statements of support for the job that he is doing”. 

Notably, health secretary Wes Streeting and energy secretary Ed Miliband – who are both seen as candidates to replace Starmer if he does resign – did not speak to the media when they left Downing Street. 

Meanwhile, Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, another potential leadership challenger, was spotted arriving at Euston railway station in London just before midday. 

Earlier, housing, communities and local government minister Miatta Fahnbulleh told Starmer “to do the right thing for the country and the party and set a timetable for an orderly transition” as the public had lost trust in him.

Meanwhile, one of Starmer’s closest aides declined to say whether he would lead his party into the next general election.

Cabinet minister Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the prime minister, said: “I’m not going to get ahead of any decision the PM may or may not take.”

‘Deeds, not words are what matter’

In her letter of resignation to Starmer this afternoon, Jess Phillips said they had worked together closely on tackling violence against women and girls for many years and had started to make steps towards change whilst in government.  

“I think you are a good man fundamentally, who cares about the right things however I have seen first-hand how that is not enough. The desire not to have an argument means we rarely make an argument, leaving opportunities for progress stalled and delayed,” she said.

“Labour governments come around rarely is the constant refrain at the moment. It’s true they are precious. Every Labour government in my and my family’s lifetime has forged progress that changed our country and the world for the better.

I know you care deeply, but deeds, not words are what matter. I’m not sure we are grasping this rare opportunity with the gusto that’s needed and I cannot keep waiting around for a crisis to push for faster progress.

She added: “I want a Labour government to work and I will strive as I always have for its success and popularity, but I’m not seeing the change I think I, and the country expect, and so cannot continue to serve as a minister under the current leadership.”

On Monday, four government aides quit their posts citing a loss of confidence in his leadership, while others warned his authority was collapsing and called for him to set out a timetable for his departure from No 10.

Starmer promised to prove his “doubters” wrong at a press conference on Monday as former minister Catherine West withdrew threats to imminently launch a leadership challenge.

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But his speech failed to quell demands that he quit or set out a timetable for his departure from discontented MPs, who continued to call for his resignation.

West had previously said she would challenge Starmer for the party leadership as early as Monday afternoon, in an attempt to force the Cabinet to put forward a replacement as prime minister.

After Starmer insisted he would not “walk away”, West said she would now canvass support within the party for him to set out a timetable for his resignation by September.

PA understands that 80 MPs have signed a letter from West urging Starmer to take this step, most of whom have publicly expressed their loss of confidence in his leadership.

Meanwhile, Joe Morris, a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to health secretary Wes Streeting, and Tom Rutland, a PPS to environment secretary Emma Reynolds, Cabinet Office aide Naushabah Khan and Melanie Ward, a PPS to deputy prime minister David Lammy, all quit last night. 

Department for Work and Pensions aide Gordon McKee and Mahmood’s PPS Sally Jameson also left their posts having expressed a loss of confidence in Starmer.

Downing Street did not immediately respond to the resignations, but loyalist MPs David Burton-Sampson, Linsey Farnsworth, Jayne Kirkham, Michael Payne, Tim Roca and Sean Woodcock were appointed to PPS positions later in the evening.

The Guardian reported that Mahmood and British foreign secretary Yvette Cooper had both spoken with Starmer about his future, while the Times reported a third Cabinet minister had also told him to consider his position.

Speculation about Starmer’s future has intensified since Thursday’s elections, in which Labour lost almost 1,500 English councillors, went backwards in Scotland and slumped to third place in Wales.

He is expected to meet apprentices today to talk up the UK government’s reforms to the system aimed at helping small businesses take on young apprentices, with training fully funded from August.

The visit is a bid to highlight his promise to tear up the “status quo” which he said on Monday had failed British people and underline efforts to put apprenticeships on an equal footing with university degrees.

With reporting from Press Association

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