Allies of Wes Streeting expect him to try to depose Keir Starmer within weeks, despite the health secretary insisting he backs the prime minister and is not intending to move against him, the Guardian has been told.
Starmer attempted to regain authority over his party on Tuesday after a tumultuous day in Westminster during which he was denounced by the Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and lost his director of communications.
The prime minister said on Tuesday he would “never walk away” from his task of changing the UK, and was bolstered further by public displays of support from both Streeting and the Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham.
But MPs who are close to the health secretary insist he still wants to replace Starmer and is willing to stand against him soon after the Gorton and Denton byelection later this month.
One said he would need to act immediately after the May local elections at the latest to pre-empt a potential challenge from his most likely rival Angela Rayner, who is waiting for the outcome of a probe into her property taxes.
“Nothing has changed,” said one. “There was a big performance of unity yesterday but Keir is no safer than he was yesterday.”
Another added: “We need to act quickly. There is a big risk that we meander and end up in this tepid decline where we all make ourselves feel better but a Reform government becomes inevitable.
“Wes has the numbers, but it will require a steeliness and a determination that most colleagues have not to date shown.”
The person added: “At this point Keir is a zombie. He is in the Theresa May phase of his leadership.”
Another Labour backbencher said: “The reality is the public does not like or trust Keir Starmer. Once we have the results of the local elections, it will become unavoidably clear that something bigger needs to change.”
The MPs’ comments contrast with the public display of unity shown by cabinet members on Tuesday.
Streeting himself told the BBC: “The prime minister has got my full support. He is leading our country through an enormous set of challenges and people have got to recognise the integrity with which he does that.”
Speaking at an event in central London, Burnham also gave his backing to the prime minister, saying it was time for everyone to be “facing in the same direction and pulling in the same direction around our ambitions”. He added however, that the government should be more ambitious, notably on housing.
Starmer chaired a lengthy meeting of cabinet on Tuesday morning at which ministers conducted what one source called a “frank and broad” discussion of what had gone wrong with the prime minister’s leadership.
One cabinet insider said afterwards: “We think Keir should remain in place but the culture in No 10 has to change completely and the briefings against colleagues need to stop.”
After that meeting, Streeting and Starmer held a one-on-one meeting, which one source said was intended to clear the air between the pair of them.
Starmer gave a speech at an event in Hertfordshire on Tuesday at which he insisted: “I will never walk away from the mandate I was given to change this country, I will never walk away from the people that I’m charged with fighting for, and I will never walk away from the country that I love.”
Government officials say they are still trying to work out whether there was any coordination between the health secretary and Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader who prompted the crisis on Monday by calling for the prime minister to resign.
One senior minister said: “There were junior ministers and PPSs ready to go. It went off half cocked. There was a plan, it just didn’t work.”
“I think the story now is Wes’ misjudgment. The release of the [Peter Mandelson] texts has not relieved people of their doubts and it looks obsessive, even desperate.”
A Downing Street source added: “Wes just did not move, this all feels very James Purnell.”
Purnell resigned as Gordon Brown’s work and pensions secretary in 2009 in a move that was expected to prompt a leadership bid by his ally David Miliband, which then never came.
Others however, have concluded there was no coordination between Streeting and Sarwar, even if they do not trust the health secretary’s reassurances of support in the future.
They point to the fact that Streeting had been planning to release his text messages with Peter Mandelson on Monday, making it a less than ideal time to also mount a coup.
Allies of Streeting also pointed out that while Sarwar was speaking, the health secretary was giving an interview to Sky News in which he offered his support to the prime minister.
One said: “Before Anas Sarwar made his statement, Wes told Sky News that Keir needs to be given a chance and shouldn’t resign. I’m afraid the conspiracy theory doesn’t fit the timeline of events.”
A minister added: “No 10 seems to have an obsession with Wes. People are saying that he bottled it without any evidence he was going for it. Wes is a smart political operator who would have known that if you get out and call for the PM to go and don’t have a plan and outriders come in behind you, it would fall flat.”
MPs believe that Starmer’s future now depends on the results of both the Gorton and Denton byelection and the subsequent local elections in May.
“Keir is there but he can’t stay for long. His name keeps coming up on the doorstep – people hate him. They didn’t fully trust him before the election and they definitely don’t after [his decision to cut] winter fuel payments.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: theguardian.com
