If a leadership contest is imminent, who would the Labour left throw its weight behind? That is the question MPs in the Socialist Campaign Group are currently mulling over. The parliamentary caucus was founded in the wake of Tony Benn’s 1981 deputy leadership bid, and now faces another moment of uncertainty at the top of the party.
One person it won’t be is Wes Streeting. As I reported earlier this week, hard-left Labour MPs are furious at Streeting for using a moment when the Prime Minister might have been forced into setting an orderly departure timetable to advance his own leadership ambitions. On Wednesday afternoon (13 May), shortly after allies of Streeting briefed plans for him to resign and launch a bid the following morning, a source on Labour’s left told me: “He’s showing himself to be the self-centred person he really is. There’s a world of difference between arguing for an orderly transition and deliberately sowing chaos in such a nakedly self-serving way.” At the time of writing, Streeting had yet to formally announce his resignation.
Under Labour rules, the SCG would struggle to get a candidate onto the ballot. Leadership contenders require the backing of 80 MPs, while the group currently has around 25 members. Left-wing MPs are also still reeling from the way candidate selections played out before the 2024 general election. One source told me: “The remaking of the PLP before 2024 changed what can be achieved [in terms of a leadership election].”
There remains deep frustration on the Labour left about the way selections were handled, with some believing left-wing candidates were deliberately blocked by the central party. Sitting MPs such as Ian Byrne were also forced into trigger-ballot contests. As I have written previously, some on the Labour left fear that could happen again. The result is a diminished parliamentary base. “The McSweeney PLP is a difficult place to get 81 names,” the Labour-left source said.
Still, the group is likely to want a candidate of its own, even if only to push the broader contest leftwards. As one source put it: “There would be a good case for an SCG runner to drive the policy agenda as people like John McDonnell tried in 2007, Diane tried in 2010, Jeremy initially perhaps thought he was doing in 2015.”
In the event of a contest, SCG MPs would meet to decide who that candidate should be. During last year’s deputy leadership election, Bell Ribeiro-Addy put herself forward, though she failed to secure enough nominations to reach the ballot. Asked by the New Statesman whether she would consider doing so again, Ribeiro-Addy said: “No doubt the SCG will meet and come to a decision.”
But what about backing another candidate?
Andy Burnham is viewed by some SCG MPs as the most plausible figure capable of winning support across the Labour left. Unlike Rayner or Streeting, he has remained outside the current administration, allowing him to avoid association with many of its most unpopular decisions among the party’s left flank. But there is a major obstacle: Burnham still lacks a parliamentary seat, despite intense speculation that an announcement on his return to Westminster could be soon.
One source within the SCG told me this has made it difficult for the group to think seriously about backing him. “There’s such a long way to go. Get a seat. Win the seat. Then a leadership contest timetable has to be announced. That’s why we’ve been saying orderly transition.”
Even then, some in the group remain unconvinced. Burnham’s record in the Brown and Blair governments may limit enthusiasm for him among some SCG members. And while the SCG is a long-established grouping within the Parliamentary Labour Party, one source stressed that it is not a “monolithic block” and contains a range of political views.
Angela Rayner, meanwhile, retains close personal and political relationships with some SCG members. She served in Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet, and she and Rebecca Long-Bailey were flatmates in London after entering parliament. Her announcement this morning that she has been cleared by HMRC of deliberate wrongdoing or carelessness over her tax affairs may also make a future leadership bid more politically viable.
But SCG sources suggest the group has never appeared fully convinced by the prospect of backing her. As the former deputy leader, Rayner is still seen by some as too closely tied to the current administration. The removal of the whip from seven MPs in July 2024 for voting to scrap the two-child benefit cap – all of them SCG members – did serious damage to relations between the Labour leadership and the group.
Many in the SCG believe Starmer’s successor cannot be someone closely associated with his government. For them, a change in leadership would require a genuine break with the current administration rather than a continuation of it under new management.
For now, much remains unresolved. No leadership contest has formally begun and the SCG has yet to meet to discuss who, if anyone, it would put forward. But if Streeting makes his move in the coming hours, the Labour left may be forced into deciding sooner than it expected.
[Further reading: “When it became about Wes it was doomed”]
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