LONDON — Britain’s Health Secretary Wes Streeting has resigned from Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government and is poised to challenge him for the Labour leadership.
In his resignation letter to the prime minister published online, the former health secretary said he has “lost confidence” in Starmer’s leadership.
Streeting accused Starmer of creating a “vacuum” where the country needed a “vision” and urged him to “listen to your colleagues”.
“Where we need vision, we have a vacuum. Where we need direction, we have drift,” Streeting said.
It is widely expected Streeting will now mount a leadership challenge against the prime minister.
Starmer has vowed to “fight on” despite suggestions of an imminent challenge to his leadership, Downing Street has said.
Streeting’s resignation comes after Angela Rayner said Thursday morning she has been cleared of deliberate wrongdoing over her tax affairs.
In an interview with The Guardian Ms Rayner did not rule out running in any Labour leadership race but said she would not “trigger” a contest.
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham also pulled out of his weekly radio slot to “prioritize discussions arising from last week’s local elections,” his spokesperson said.
The prime minister stated he retained “full confidence” in the health secretary on Wednesday.
Streeting launched a scathing attack on Starmer, criticizing him for cutting the winter fuel allowance, describing Britain as an “island of strangers” in a controversial migration speech and sacking staff rather than taking responsibility for his own mistakes.
Streeting said: “It is now clear that you will not lead the Labour Party into the next general election and that Labour MPs and Labour unions want the debate about what comes next to be a battle of ideas, not of personalities or petty factionalism.
“It needs to be broad, and it needs to be the best possible field of candidates. I support that approach and I hope you will facilitate it.”
Starmer has been attempting to quell a Labour rebellion following his party’s local election bloodbath. Starmer’s allies insist that he will not resign and will battle any contenders to remain in Downing Street.
Streeting’s resignation could fire the starting gun on a Labour leadership contest against rivals Ed Miliband, Andy Burnham and Angela Rayner.
His decision to quit suggests that he has got the required backing of 81 MPs to trigger a leadership race. But the letter itself doesn’t officially trigger a contest, nor does it explicitly say whether he has enough backing.
In the wake of his excoriating letter, all eyes will now be on Streeting to see whether he announces an official challenge to the prime minister.
But even then, all is not lost for Starmer. Just hours before Streeting’s resignation fresh polling of Labour members was published which suggested that the beleaguered PM would win a landslide victory against his former health secretary. It was only against Rayner, Burnham and Miliband that the prime minister would lose, the polling showed.
Source: Saudi Gazette