Labour lefties 'plotting to get rid of Wes Streeting as PM' – before he's even got the job
The extraordinary intervention suggests that Labour is descending into open civil war as pressure mounts on Sir Keir.
Senior figures on Labour’s left are already organising to remove Wes Streeting from Downing Street if he succeeds in replacing Sir Keir Starmer. And insiders have claimed the Health Secretary would lack legitimacy and could be toppled almost immediately. A senior soft-left source told Bloomberg that Team Streeting’s push for a “swift” and “rapid” leadership contest — designed to pre-empt Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham’s return to Parliament — amounts to a “stitch-up” that would doom any Mr Streeting premiership from the start.
They warned: “If Wes thinks he can pull off some kind of stitch-up to avoid a fair process, he will have no legitimacy even if he briefly ends up in office. There would be no support for the government in the Commons and we would challenge him at the first opportunity. He’d be lucky to outlast a lettuce."
The extraordinary intervention suggests that Labour is descending into open civil war as pressure mounts on Sir Keir following last week’s disastrous local election results. With more than 60 Labour MPs now urging the Prime Minister to set a departure date, attention has shifted to the succession battle — and the deep fractures it is exposing.
Labour MP Paula Barker wouldn't give up her seat for Andy Burnham
Mr Streeting has emerged as a frontrunner in betting markets, with some bookmakers offering him as short as 7/2 to become the next prime minister.
His allies are reportedly pushing for a quick contest while Mr Burnham, a popular figure on the party’s soft-left and centre, remains ineligible because he does not currently sit in the Commons.
Mr Burnham was blocked by Labour’s National Executive Committee earlier this year from standing in a by-election, a move widely seen as designed to protect Sir Keir.
Allies of the mayor say he has plans to return to Westminster within weeks via a vacancy created by a sitting MP stepping aside. Soft-left MPs are now demanding a more orderly process that would allow Mr Burnham to compete.
The row has triggered a meltdown among left and soft-left MPs, who view Mr Streeting — a leading moderniser — as too right-leaning on issues such as welfare reform and public service delivery.
They fear a Streeting victory would entrench a centrist direction they oppose, particularly after Labour’s losses to both Reform UK on the right and the Greens on the left.
One MP described the atmosphere as toxic: “The Parliamentary Labour Party is a mess, with ministerial aides and backbenchers openly briefing against each other.”
Angela Rayner, who has criticised a “toxic culture of cronyism” in recent days, has so far stopped short of joining the fray directly but is seen by many as another potential contender.
Labour rules allow a mid-term leadership change without a general election, but the prospect of removing Sir Keir only to immediately plot against his successor has alarmed some moderates.
One former councillor warned: “Repeated changes of prime minister so soon after the 2024 landslide would look chaotic to voters already disillusioned with the party.”
As King Charles III prepares to deliver the Government’s legislative programme on Wednesday, Labour’s internal divisions are threatening to overshadow any attempt at a reset.
With Sir Keir fighting for survival and his potential successors already at war, the party that swept to power less than two years ago finds itself consumed by infighting that could define its fate long before the next election.
