Streeting Denies Plot to Replace Starmer as UK Prime Minister

Keir Starmer’s allies sought to avert a leadership challenge by shining a spotlight on the ambitions of a rival for the British prime minister’s job. They may have wound up strengthening the hand of those demanding change at the top.

The leadership worries spilled into the open late Tuesday when Starmer supporters briefed journalists that they believed one of the government’s most high-profile cabinet ministers, Health Secretary Wes Streeting, was plotting to replace him as Labour Party leader. The move shattered the illusion of cabinet unity weeks ahead of a contentious budget and renewed private calls for Starmer to fire top aides, including his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney.

While Streeting reaffirmed his support for Starmer, he accused unnamed Downing Street staffers of trying to “kneecap” him. He described the criticism of him as “self-defeating and self-destructive behavior.”

Lizzy Burden joined Caroline Hepker and Tom Mackenzie on Bloomberg Radio with the details.

Starmer attempted to quiet the controversy during his weekly question session in the House of Commons, saying, “any attack on any member of my cabinet is completely unacceptable.” He sidestepped a question from Conservative opposition leader Kemi Badenoch about the tensions in Downing Street, responding that Streeting was “doing a great job.”

The public squabbling between one of the cabinet’s biggest names and the center of British political power astonished ministers and lawmakers, who had come to office pledging to end the instability of recent Conservative governments. The turmoil came just two weeks ahead of a budget in which Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves has signaled she might compromise on another campaign vow not to raise taxes on “working people.”

“We’re not the Conservatives — we don’t change leader every five minutes,” said Emily Darlington, a Labour member of Parliament for Milton Keynes Central. “The public are looking for us to remind them what Labour’s really about. People are expecting a painful budget. We need to show them what that is for.”

The Downing Street drama, which unfolded on news websites late into Tuesday evening, puts Starmer’s leadership in question just 16 months after he won a huge majority in a general election. As headlines scrolled by, Starmer aides expressed frustration at how the party had found itself in such a difficult position.

One minister said many in government were wondering what Starmer’s allies were trying to accomplish by targeting Streeting. A Labour aide said those at the top had lost their heads.

Many in Westminster zeroed-in on McSweeney, the architect of Labour’s victory last year who manages Starmer’s Downing Street operation. One government official said that the chief of staff would have to take responsibility for criticism of Streeting, questioning how the most senior adviser in the administration would be able to keep his job.

In the Commons, Badenoch said that Starmer appeared to have lost control of his office. “The real scandal is that, two weeks from a budget, the government has descended into civil war,” she said.

The briefings by Starmer’s allies appeared intended as a pre-emptive strike to ward off a possible challenge by Streeting in the aftermath of the Nov. 26 budget announcement. While the health secretary has long been seen as a leading candidate from Labour’s more centrist wing to succeed the prime minister, people familiar with the matter said that he had taken steps to set himself up as a potential replacement.

Until recently, Streeting had been seen as a central player in McSweeney’s strategy, and one of the best communicators of a message that many Labour insiders have complained lacks cohesion. The allegations gave Streeting a chance to showcase his communication skills, as he dispatched pointed questions about his leadership ambitions in a series of broadcast interviews on Wednesday, comparing the speculation to an episode of hit show Celebrity Traitors.

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