Like in a game of tennis, Wes Streeting just very firmly lobbed the ball into Angela Rayner’s court.
Rayner had dropped a breakfast time 130mph serve when she revealed HM Revenue and Customs – with exquisite timing – had cleared her of any wrongdoing. That ace meant she was free to return to Cabinet. Or she could choose to stay on the backbenches ahead of a leadership contest when it officially starts, even though it effectively started after Labour’s local elections drubbing last week.
Streeting resigned as health secretary at lunchtime when it became clear he could not last the day as a senior member in Sir Keir Starmer’s Government. Goaded into sacking his troublesome minister, Starmer neither had the authority nor inclination to do so. The Prime Minister’s Monday reset speech had further damaged his standing.
“Where we need vision, we have a vacuum. Where we need direction, we have drift. This was underscored by your speech on Monday. Leaders take responsibility, but too often that has meant other people falling on their swords,” Streeting wrote in his resignation letter.
Those who dislike Streeting had watched his team’s machinations on Thursday morning with barely-disguised Schadenfreude as they speculated he did not have the required 81 MPs to challenge Starmer. “He’s f***ked it,” one Cabinet aide said, succinctly.
“First rule of briefing is: keep it vague,” laughed one ally of Starmer, amused at the efforts of Team Wes to persuade journalists that Darren Jones, Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, was telling MPs that Starmer would quit. When asked, Jones’s spokesman vehemently denied it. By late morning, there was a distinct sense that the wheels were falling off Streeting’s efforts.
The received wisdom had been that Streeting would benefit from a speedy contest with an Angela Rayner under a tax cloud. Now she’s back in the game, the stakes have changed. And Streeting is nothing if not street smart.
In his resignation letter, Streeting wrote that it is now clear Starmer will not lead Labour into the next general election. The succession contest “needs to be broad, and it needs the best possible field of candidates. I support that approach and I hope that you will facilitate this,” he urged Starmer.
By quitting Streeting is daring Rayner to accept a job in Starmer’s dying administration. He’s also fronting up Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, telling him to put his money where his mouth is. His dare to Burnham is: find a seat, win it, come to Westminster, win the leadership contest too. The trap has been laid for both of them.
Starmer has long made it clear he wants Rayner back in Cabinet. Frankly, he needs her more than she needs him. The job as health secretary needs filling, even if the prime minister doesn’t have a full reshuffle. Rayner will need to explain herself either way. Does she prop up Starmer’s dying administration and protest she is loyal to the Labour movement? Or stay on the backbenches where she is free to engage in the leadership race without being bound by collective responsibility?
Meanwhile, Streeting’s allies insist he has over the 81 names needed to challenge Starmer. But, as one explained, better a tactical retreat now to win in the longer-term. Another said Burnham needed greater scrutiny before “people in the PLP [Parliamentary Labour Party] see through him.”
Streeting’s support is also concentrated among serving ministers. There would have to be an open contest for ministers to abandon collective responsibility to swing behind him. And Labour’s socialist wing have made no secret of how much they loathe Streeting.
“He definitely has the numbers but if he had directly challenged [Starmer], all this would have become is the ‘Stop Wes’ campaign,” an ally of Streeting told The i Paper.
“He would’ve become the lightning rod for everyone who wanted to chuck everything at him. He has put his career on the line; now it’s time for others to do the same. By holding back until Wes moved, Ange thought she was being clever. Now she has questions to answer about whether she thinks Keir should stay on. Wes has put his head on the line. What do other Cabinet ministers think? And where the hell is Andy in all this?” the source added.
Streeting might also benefit from Starmer blocking Burnham from standing for Parliament through the National Executive Committee, making it a clear fight between him and Rayner.
But that’s before you take into account all the hopefuls who will come out of the woodwork to raise their profiles. Veterans minister Al Carns – with his soundbites about “leadership,” “action” and photo ops with grappling irons up frozen waterfalls – is about as politically subtle as a rifle, but is nevertheless gaining traction in his naked bid to become defence secretary.
And as the leadership race creaks into gear, albeit more slowly than first expected, Starmer clings on. It’s been over 300 days since the prime minister’s popularity rating first dipped below net -40. His four predecessors all left office within weeks of consistently becoming that disliked.
Labour lost 59 percent of the seats it was defending at local elections and control of the Welsh Senedd and yet Starmer clings on. The number of his own MPs calling for him to go remains at 92, where it had been sitting for 24 hours, equivalent to nearly a third of backbenchers. And yet he clings on. Four ministerial resignations, five ministerial bag-carriers blown away in a puff of smoke and resignation letters.
Now Streeting resigns and still Starmer clings on. But the ball is in Rayner and Burnham’s court now.