Wes Streeting was preparing to stand down as health secretary and move against Keir Starmer, allies said on Wednesday, in the clearest sign yet that the Labour leader is facing a challenge from inside his own government. Sources said Streeting could launch a formal bid for the leadership as early as Thursday.
Downing Street insiders said the health secretary did not yet have the 81 MPs needed to trigger a contest, but people close to him were already acting as if the fight had begun. A source close to Streeting said Starmer’s belief that he had seen off a putsch was “laughable”, while another said: “No-one has the numbers till the bell is struck, even canvassing isn’t real, people need certainty before they write their name down. But he thinks he’s got the numbers,” adding that Streeting believed he had enough support to go ahead.
The reported move lands on the eve of the king’s speech and after days of open unrest around Starmer’s leadership. The prime minister had issued a put up or shut up ultimatum to his cabinet, trying to force wavering allies to choose sides. Streeting held brief talks with Starmer in Downing Street on Wednesday morning, but his spokesperson said he was not planning to comment afterwards so as not to distract from the king’s speech.
Tuesday’s manoeuvring already pointed to a rupture. Two MPs said they were called by allies of Streeting on Tuesday evening and told, “He’s going for it.” A second MP close to the Streeting camp said they had been involved in discussions about gathering the numbers needed to start a contest and had begun ringing round MPs. Zubir Ahmed, a close ally of Streeting who quit as a minister on Tuesday, renewed calls on Wednesday for the prime minister to resign, saying Starmer’s authority had “irretrievably ebbed away”.
Starmer’s allies insisted he was ready for a fight. A close ally said the prime minister had always believed Streeting would not win the party and would fight any challenge, while an unnamed cabinet ally added: “Personally I’d throw him in the river but luckily Keir Starmer is a calm and patient person.” The comments underline how far the dispute has moved beyond quiet briefing and into an outright contest for control of the party.
The health secretary’s next step matters because a formal leadership challenge would turn a simmering Cabinet feud into a test of whether Starmer can still command his own MPs. If Streeting really moves on Thursday, the question will not be whether there is discontent — there already is — but whether he can convert it into the 81 names needed to force a contest.
