Streeting to hold showdown meeting with Starmer

Wes Streeting has lined up a showdown with Sir Keir Starmer on the day of the King’s Speech.

The Health Secretary will head into Downing Street on Wednesday morning to challenge Sir Keir about his plan to rescue the party after dire local election results and almost 100 calls from Labour MPs for him to resign.

The summit between Sir Keir and Mr Streeting has been arranged for before the State Opening of Parliament and the King’s arrival at Westminster at 11.15am where he will deliver his ceremonial address.

Mr Streeting, who previously told No 10 he was ready for a leadership race, has so far held off launching a challenge despite ministerial resignations from some of his allies.

In a tense Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Sir Keir dared his rivals to oust him in an attempt to defuse the crisis facing his premiership.

Despite telling ministers he would discuss the leadership crisis in private, he refused to speak to Mr Streeting in No 10 after the meeting.

Pressure continues to mount on Sir Keir, with four ministers resigning on Tuesday, including Dr Zubir Ahmed, an under-secretary of state in Mr Streeting’s department who is considered one of the Health Secretary’s closest allies.

More than 90 Labour MPs have now called for Sir Keir to resign, representing almost one-quarter of the party’s total.

On Tuesday, Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, met his supporters in London and is thought to have decided on the parliamentary seat to contest in a by-election, which he could announce as soon as Wednesday.

One ally of Mr Burnham said he was hoping Mr Streeting did not launch a direct leadership challenge, which would trigger an immediate election in which the Greater Manchester Mayor would not be eligible to stand because he is not an MP.

Angela Rayner, the former deputy prime minister, is also thought to be weighing up a leadership bid and is expected to run if Mr Streeting launches a challenge.

Mr Streeting will ask Sir Keir how he plans to resolve the “turbulence” around his leadership and get Labour out of a “mess”, after the party lost more than 1,000 seats and the control of several English councils to Reform UK.

Later in the day, the King will set out Labour’s legislative agenda for the next parliamentary session and Sir Keir will face MPs in the Commons for the first time since last Thursday’s elections.

Risk of embarrassing King

The crisis facing Sir Keir has caused unease in Westminster that the chaos is overshadowing the King’s Speech and could embarrass the monarch.

Buckingham Palace is reportedly keen to avoid the perception that the King will be used to prop up his Government with the speech on Wednesday, in line with his responsibility to stay out of politics.

Palace aides are understood to have asked government officials whether they would proceed with the speech, given the speculation that Sir Keir’s premiership could soon be over.

At the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning, the first since the disastrous local election results, Sir Keir instructed his ministers to focus their comments on the domestic impact of the war in Iran. However, sources told The Telegraph that some loyal ministers expressed concern that the ongoing political turbulence risked raising household bills.

The Prime Minister said he would not resign, arguing that a leadership election would cause economic chaos and that the formal process to remove him “has not been triggered”.

Over the course of the day, four ministers quit the Government. In his letter of resignation, Dr Ahmed told Sir Keir: “It is clear from recent days, that the public across the UK has now irretrievably lost confidence in you as Prime Minister.”

Jess Phillips, the minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, who also resigned, said she had only seen “real change” from Labour after “threats made by me in light of catastrophic mistakes”.

The other resignations include Alex Davies-Jones, a justice minister, and Miatta Fahnbulleh, a faith minister.

However, Sir Keir’s allies were defiant on Tuesday night, and 112 MPs signed a letter calling for the Prime Minister to remain in office, arguing that despite “devastatingly tough” results, it was “no time for a leadership contest”.

Four new ministers were also appointed to replace those who had resigned, along with three new whips.

As the speculation that Sir Keir would stand down heightened on Tuesday morning, the cost of government debt reached the highest level since 1998, as markets priced in the risk of a more Left-wing contender replacing him.

Downing Street sources pointed to rising gilt yields as evidence that Sir Keir’s resignation would plunge the Government into a financial crisis. One ally claimed that the speculation alone had already cost the Treasury £2bn.

David Lammy, the Deputy Prime Minister, said on Tuesday that the Prime Minister had his “full support”, adding that “no one seems to have the names to stand up” against him.

“No one has come forward to put themselves forward in the processes that exist in the party,” he said.

Mr Streeting is considered to be the front-runner if a leadership contest were to be called, but is thought to be concerned that moving first against Sir Keir would make him unpopular with backbenchers and party members, putting his chances of victory at risk.

One government source said that he had “f---ed it” by failing to move against Sir Keir, while a Labour MP said: “Wes has bottled it.”

Sir Keir’s critics are divided on whether he should announce a fast timeline to leave office, which would favour Mr Streeting, or a longer period of transition that would allow Mr Burnham to return to Westminster.

Mr Burnham was pictured by The Telegraph arriving at Euston Station heading to what was intended to be a secret visit to London to strategise with his allies and confirm a seat where he could run to return to Westminster.

It is not known which constituency he is planning to contest, and three Labour MPs in the North West have denied that they are in talks to resign to make way for him.

Allies of Mr Burnham were said to be warning against a “coronation” for Mr Streeting.

Sources close to the Greater Manchester Mayor demanded that Labour’s national executive committee allow him to stand for the leadership despite not being a sitting MP.

Ms Rayner, the former deputy prime minister, is also thought to be weighing a leadership run, but is not likely to challenge Sir Keir directly.

It is understood that she would only take part in a contest if Mr Burnham had not yet secured a parliamentary seat, amid concerns about splitting the vote between candidates on Labour’s soft-Left.

However, she is expected to run against Mr Streeting if he launches a challenge and believes that the next leader of the party should oversee a lurch to the Left.

Government sources said they had “no doubt” that if Mr Streeting ran as a leadership candidate, the soft-Left faction of the party “would not allow a coronation”.

A senior government source told The Telegraph: “The soft Left would put someone up and it looks like that is going to be Ed Miliband.”

Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, was among several ministers who told Sir Keir to set out a timetable for his departure on Monday evening, but her spokesman said she would not resign over his decision not to do so.

If he were to resign immediately, Sir Keir would have served as Prime Minister for longer than Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, but for less time than Boris Johnson and Baroness May.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment on Tuesday night over questions about the King’s Speech.

Aides routinely liaise with the Government over the Speech, in which the King reads out the priorities of the Government of the day as one of the key parts of his constitutional duties.

The Speech does not reflect his own opinion, nor his personal support for government policies.

It is understood that the King’s aides have continued preparing for the Speech as normal, and have maintained regular discussions with the Government. There is no suggestion that aides have sought to call off the Speech.

[Source: Daily Telegraph]