Streeting mulls leadership challenge as Labour turmoil continues

Streeting leaves No 10. James Manning/PA Wire

By PA Media reporters

Sir Keir Starmer faces another day of questions over his future as Wes Streeting mulls whether to mount a challenge for the premiership.

The health secretary is believed to have told allies he is preparing to resign on Thursday and announce a bid for the top job after Labour descended into open division at the start of the week.

Efforts to lever Starmer out of Downing Street appeared to stall on Wednesday, with no further ministerial resignations or backbench calls for his resignation as Westminster turned its attention to the King’s Speech.

But the morning saw Labour’s trade union backers pull their support for Starmer, while Streeting’s team failed to deny claims he was poised to quit.

Streeting confronted the Prime Minister over the crisis engulfing Labour as the pair met for crunch talks on Tuesday morning – which lasted less than 20 minutes – in Downing Street.

Starmer has managed to cling on to power and see off an immediate threat to his leadership in the last few days, despite the resignation of four ministers, some of whom are close to Streeting, and at least 85 MPs demanding he stands down.