Wes Streeting announced Thursday that he has resigned as Britain’s health minister, paving the way for a potential leadership challenge against embattled Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
In his resignation letter to the prime minister, which Streeting posted on X, he said he had “lost confidence” in Starmer’s leadership and “it is now clear that you will not lead the Labour Party into the next general election”.
Streeting is now expected to initiate a leadership challenge against Starmer.
Meanwhile, another Labour MP and former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner is also preparing to contest for the leadership as she cleared her unpaid taxes to the country’s Revenue and Customs authority, paving the way for her to participate in the leadership race. However, Rayner has said that she herself would not trigger a challenge to the prime minister.
Streeting is popular on the right of Labour, but is disliked by MPs on the left who would prefer former Deputy Prime Minister Rayner or Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham as leader. Both however have some obstacles to overcome before they would be able to run for the leadership.
PM Starmer has been under mounting pressure to step down after more than 90 MP and four ministers called on him to quit following Labour’s disastrous results in the recent local election in the country. The Labour lost more than 1500 seats to the Reform and the Greens, causing a crisis within the ruling party. (AFP/EIR)
