Wes Streeting Quits as Health Secretary, Delays Labour Leadership Bid Over 80-MP Hurdle
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · May 14
Wes Streeting Quits as Health Secretary, Delays Labour Leadership Bid Over 80-MP Hurdle
18 articles · Updated · The Guardian · May 14
Streeting used his resignation letter to make clear he is not launching a Labour leadership challenge now, even as he quit the cabinet after losing confidence in Keir Starmer.
An immediate contest would require backing from about 80 Labour MPs, and the letter instead argues for a broader field of candidates — a stance seen as leaving room for Andy Burnham to enter later.
In the letter, Streeting blamed Starmer for Labour's heavy election losses, saying the party faces a vacuum of vision and warning Reform UK could win the next general election.
He said staying on as health secretary after losing confidence would have been "dishonourable and unprincipled," while pointing to fresh NHS England performance figures as evidence of his own record in office.
With Labour's support collapsing and rivals surging, can any new leader prevent the party's imminent electoral annihilation?
As a leadership battle looms, will the resulting political chaos derail the UK’s fragile economic recovery?