While Andy Burnham fights the Makerfield by-election, Wes Streeting is beginning to fight Labour’s shadow leadership contest. The former health secretary, who resigned last week, has long been rumoured as a contender to replace Keir Starmer. Streeting has now revealed that, during the 16 minutes he spent in Downing Street ahead of his resignation last week, he informed the Prime Minister of his intention to stand, describing the government as one that “lacks definition, direction and vision”.
After telling Starmer of his plans in private, Streeting went public on Saturday with one of the worst-kept secrets in Westminster. In a speech at the Progress conference, he announced that he plans to put himself forward in any future Labour leadership contest. As no formal challenge has yet been mounted against Starmer’s leadership, an official race has not been called – yet.
With the by-election unfolding in the North West, the former health secretary now has around six weeks to make his case. He has begun to do so. As one ally told Ailbhe Rea this week, now that he has left the government, “Wes can say what he really thinks. Now he is free to spell out his vision.” This began at the Progress conference, where Streeting also called for the UK to rejoin the European Union and warned of the growing threat posed by Reform.
It continued in his resignation speech in the Commons yesterday, in which Streeting told MPs: “I left the government because we are in the fight of our lives against nationalism, and it is a fight that we are currently losing.” Flanked by a praetorian guard of allies – including Jess Phillips, Zubir Ahmed and Rosie Wrighting, all of whom resigned from their government posts last week – Streeting warned that, unless Labour changes course, it risks handing the keys to No 10 to Reform. “I do not want that on our consciences,” he said.
And today, he has begun to flesh out what policy under a Streeting-led Labour government might look like, opening up the “battle of ideas” within the Labour Party that he called for on Saturday. Speaking to Nick Robinson’s Political Thinking podcast, Streeting proposed introducing a “wealth tax that works” by equalising capital gains tax with income tax. He also proposed closing the loophole through which some people make income from work appear as though it were a capital gain. Lower rates of capital gains tax, however, would still be offered to “protect genuine entrepreneurs” and encourage long-term investment.
Streeting’s allies have repeatedly made clear that he has the backing of the 81 MPs needed to make it onto the Labour leadership ballot. But if that is the case, why did he not go all in and challenge Starmer last week? Streeting told the BBC that, a few days before he resigned, he had decided against staging a challenge until Burnham had found somewhere to run for parliament.
“It was clear that if we’d been plunged straight into a leadership contest by me – or, for that matter, anyone else – I think it would have been seen as a deliberate attempt to get ahead of Andy Burnham’s potential return,” he said.
What happens if Burnham does get into parliament? If the polls are to be believed, then the former health secretary would lose heavily to the Manchester mayor. The latest polling from YouGov shows Burnham winning 80 per cent of members to Streeting’s 10 per cent in a straight head-to-head contest (with those answering “don’t know” or “I would not vote” making up the remaining 10 per cent).
As Ailbhe writes this week, the two men spoke towards the end of the day on 14 May. Streeting gave Burnham his full backing in Makerfield, something he has reiterated publicly since. But a Labour victory in Makerfield could spell a difficult road ahead for Streeting’s leadership bid.
This piece first appeared in the Morning Call newsletter; receive it every morning by subscribing on Substack here
[Further reading: Keir Starmer is a dishonest man]
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