Wes Streeting has indicated he is preparing to challenge Sir Keir Starmer in a Labour leadership contest as early as next week.
The former health secretary has urged the prime minister to set out a timetable for his departure if Andy Burnham wins Thursday’s Makerfield by-election.
Mr Streeting said he wanted Sir Keir to make a decision to leave “on his own terms”, but told BBC Newsnight: “We can’t carry on with this uncertainty and paralysis, and there will need to be a contest, and I’d be prepared to do that.”
On how soon he would be willing to mount a challenge, Mr Streeting said he did not want to get into it, but that Sir Keir should be given “space over the weekend” to consider his position.
The ex-cabinet minister insisted he has the backing of 80 MPs required to stand in a contest, while Mr Burnham is widely expected to launch his own campaign should he return to Westminster.
Meanwhile, Sir Keir told reporters at the G7 summit that he would prove his rivals wrong and “carry on with what I was elected to do” as he fights for his political future.
Starmer ‘not listening to Cabinet or voters’, Streeting says
Criticising the prime minister, Wes Streeting told The Cathy Newman Show on Sky News: “I don’t think he’s listening to his former defence secretary, I don’t think he’s listening to military chiefs, I don’t think he’s listening to our Nato allies.
“In terms of the Labour Party, I don’t think he’s listening to his cabinet, I don’t think he’s listening to the parliamentary party and I don’t think he’s listening to voters, who only in May sent the Labour Party that extremely humbling message at the ballot box.”
Speaking to reporters earlier at a press conference in central London where he outlined his economic vision, the senior Labour figure said: “There is a huge amount of talent on the front bench and the back bench of the parliamentary Labour Party.
“It isn’t used nearly well enough, and the divides between Labour’s different tribes are often overstated.
“I think we all have a shared sense of what’s wrong. I think we have different views about how to put it right, but at the end of it, we need to come together.”
Mr Streeting’s diagnosis is that Labour is suffering from three problems at the moment: with leadership, with policy, and with culture.
Streeting prepared to trigger leadership contest as early as next week
Wes Streeting indicated he is prepared to trigger a Labour leadership contest as early as next week as he urged Sir Keir Starmer to set out a timetable for his departure if Andy Burnham wins this week’s Makerfield by-election.
The former health secretary insisted he has the backing of the 80 MPs required to stand in a contest as he accused Sir Keir of not listening to the party or his cabinet in a series of public appearances on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the prime minister said he would prove his rivals wrong and “carry on with what I was elected to do” and “bring back the change that people desperately need” as he fights for his political future.
Mr Streeting said he wanted Sir Keir to reflect over the weekend and make a decision to leave “on his own terms” after the vote on Thursday which could see Mr Burnham return to Westminster to challenge the prime minister.
But pressed on whether he would trigger a contest if Sir Keir stayed put, as the prime minister has made clear he wants to, the ex-cabinet minister told BBC Newsnight: “We can’t carry on with this uncertainty and paralysis, and there will need to be a contest, and I’d be prepared to do that.”
On how soon he would be willing to mount a challenge, Mr Streeting said he did not want to “get into, ‘is it Monday, is it Tuesday’”, but that Sir Keir should be given “space over the weekend” to consider his position.
Asked if he would challenge Sir Keir if the Greater Manchester mayor does not win the Makerfield by-election, he told LBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “Yes, I believe we need a change of leadership and if Andy Burnham isn’t back, I still believe we need that change of leadership.”
Holly Evans17 June 2026 09:00