Prime Minister Keir Starmer said a challenge against him would be bad for Britain, after former health minister Wes Streeting urged him to consider his position ahead of a likely leadership contest to avoid “uncertainty and paralysis”.
The Labour Party is waiting to see if Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, can win a local election in Makerfield on Thursday to return to parliament, where he would become the frontrunner in any challenge to Starmer.
Starmer, speaking at the G7 summit in Evian, repeated on Wednesday that he would fight to stay in his job if a formal challenge was launched against his leadership.
“If there is a challenge, I intend to fight in any challenge to my leadership,” Starmer told the BBC.
“I don’t think there should be a challenge, because I think that is a bad thing for the country.”
Starmer added that he hoped Burnham would win the Makerfield by-election for Labour, but said the party should then focus on the campaign to replace him as Greater Manchester mayor rather than a leadership election.
‘UNCERTAINTY AND PARALYSIS’
But Streeting, who quit last month in protest at the prime minister’s record, urged Starmer to consider his position sooner than that, telling BBC Newsnight late on Tuesday he wanted Starmer to take “time to reflect over the weekend and I think we should see where we are then”.
Streeting has said he has the backing of the 81 Labour lawmakers needed to trigger a challenge, and said on Tuesday he would be “prepared to do that” if the prime minister did not stand down after reflecting on his position.
“I would prefer the PM to take a decision on his own terms rather than leave it for me or Andy or anyone else to trigger a contest,” Streeting said. “We can’t carry on with this uncertainty and paralysis.”
In a further blow to Starmer’s authority, the highly respected defence minister, John Healey, resigned last week, launching a scathing critique of Starmer’s record in allocating funds to increase defence spending.
(Reporting by Sarah Young and Alistair Smout）
