Members of the Labour left are furious that the attempt to oust Keir Starmer has been, in their view, co-opted by allies of Wes Streeting. Sources pointed out that three out of the four ministerial resignations were allies of Streeting: Jess Phillips, Alex Davies-Jones and Zubir Ahmed, a health minister, all resigned on Tuesday afternoon (12 May). One told me that once the attempted ousting “became about Wes, it was doomed”.
One left-wing MP described the day’s events as a “coup by Wes” and speculated “he doesn’t have the bottle to front it himself because they don’t want it to be said the right took Keir out and not the left.” Another Labour MP said they thought Streeting would have to move officially later today (12 May), and said they thought he may have got his supporters to resign to drum up the numbers for a leadership bid.
Another Labour left source suggested that even if Streeting does run, he may not win, ruining Labour’s chance at a change of leadership. According to polling by Survation, Streeting ranks below Burnham, Rayner and Ed Miliband in popularity with Labour members. The source added that Streeting’s “soft coup exposes a fatal weakness of any candidate from the Labour Right – not one of them can face the membership against a candidate of the centre-left.”
Streeting’s allies backed him. A Labour source said: “The majority of the MPs who have resigned or called for Keir to go are on the left of the party. This all started with Andy Burnham’s supporters calling for Keir to set out a timetable over the weekend.”
Streeting is set to meet Starmer at No 10 tomorrow (13 May) to discuss the Prime Minister’s future. There is clearly a sense on the Labour left that calls for an immediate challenge make it harder for them to get a candidate on the ballot, and easier for Streeting to contest the premiership. Burnham remains outside of parliament (“that’s why we’ve been saying orderly transition,” one Labour left source tells me). Other left-wing candidates could have a hard time drumming up the support of more than 80 MPs (see Paula Barker and Bell Ribeiro-Addy’s unsuccessful attempts to do so in the deputy leadership race). For now, their clearest option inside parliament is Rayner, who has previously said she would rather “stick pins in her eyes” than back Streeting – but she remains equivocal. The atmosphere among the PLP is febrile. But as no official challenge has yet been launched, there is no leadership contest. Yet.
[Further reading: Labour’s myopic plotters need to grow up]
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