LONDON — Labour MP Wes Streeting insisted on Tuesday that he has secured the backing of fellow MPs that he would need to fight a contest to be Britain’s next prime minister.
The former health secretary said he wants a “genuine contest” to decide who will replace Keir Starmer in Downing Street, not an unopposed coronation for Andy Burnham — the Greater Manchester mayor, who is the favorite for Starmer’s job if he wins a crunch parliamentary by-election this Thursday.
But while insisting he has enough support and will take part, Streeting said he does not want to trigger a contest himself. Instead, he hopes that Starmer will set a timetable for his own exit following the by-election result.
“I hope the prime minister will at that stage reflect on his own position and set out a timetable. I think that would be a better way forward for everyone and would enable that better culture that we aspire to,” Streeting said, after delivering a speech on economic policy in London’s financial district.
Britain’s ruling Labour Party is gearing up for a bitter, summer-long battle for control of No. 10 Downing Street after this week’s by-election for the seat of Makerfield — which Burnham is widely predicted to win, making him eligible to run for party leader.
But Starmer has insisted he will fight on — and party rules say any challenger must submit the names of 80 MP backers to kick-start a formal members’ vote for leader.
Supporters of both Streeting and Burnham hope that mass Cabinet resignations could force Starmer’s hand. But if the PM still refuses to leave, Streeting’s approach could leave a potential stalemate in which neither contender triggers a contest immediately.
Starmer’s allies believe that Streeting — who resigned from the Cabinet in May but stopped short of challenging Starmer — does not have the 80 backers he needs.
Streeting told POLITICO on Tuesday he is absolutely confident that he still has at least 80 backers to challenge the PM.
“I have every intention of standing in that contest,” he added. “I’ve not triggered a contest because we’ve got a by-election underway where one of the inevitable candidates is on the ballot paper. Had I tried to pull a fast one and get ahead of Andy Burnham before he came back, I think that would have been foul play.”
Streeting, who described himself as the “plucky underdog,” told journalists: “For the avoidance of doubt, for the umpteenth time, I will be standing.”
Streeting ruled out holding a general election earlier than the expected date of 2029 if he becomes PM. “We don’t live in a presidential system, we live in a parliamentary democracy. I was elected on that manifesto. I will deliver on that manifesto, and I’ll seek to go above and beyond that manifesto,” he said.
The comments came as Streeting set out what he called a vision of “progressive capitalism,” saying the left should not be “squeamish about competition.” He promised to recruit 20,000 scientists, engineers and AI experts from overseas over the next parliament and pass emergency legislation to speed up the building of key infrastructure.
The MP — who is from the party’s centrist wing, inspired by Labour’s most successful former prime minister, Tony Blair — took swipes at Burnham’s more left-wing politics, saying “I don’t believe we’ve sat through 40 years of neoliberal failure” and “bond markets are not bond villains.” (Burnham said last year that Britain is “in hock” to the bond markets.)
Streeting added the leadership contest should not become a “Dutch auction” of ever more expensive pledges, with a swipe at the pledges of Starmer’s own 2020 campaign: “You won’t find me making pledges to win your vote in a leadership election only to let you down after the ballots are counted.”
He indicated he would review the expensive triple lock on the state pension, which guarantees that it rises over a certain level, after the next election. “Let’s have a serious conversation as a nation about intergenerational fairness,” he said.
Streeting also called for Britain to look to Denmark’s model of “flexicurity” — in which employers can hire and fire more easily in the modern workplace — to prepare for “massive labor market dislocation caused by AI.”
He said Britain did not need to “stick to short-term arbitrary targets” for net zero, but backed the overall goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050.
Despite saying Britain’s defenses must be “funded adequately,” he avoided nailing down how much the nation should spend on defence, after Defence Secretary John Healey resigned last week and said it should reach 3 percent of GDP by 2030.
Streeting — who has said he “one day” wants Britain to rejoin the European Union — also said he would “start talking to the EU now ahead of the next general election” about how to move closer to the bloc. But he declined to pledge to rejoin talks as part of the 2029 manifesto.
