Wes Streeting has indicated he could pull the trigger on a leadership challenge as early as next week, as the upcoming by-election in Makerfield looms over Sir Keir Starmer’s position.
The former health secretary publicly criticised the prime minister on Tuesday, as he insisted he has the support of the 80 MPs needed to officially launch a leadership contest next week if Sir Keir has not yet set out a timetable for his departure.
The ultimatum comes ahead of this week’s crucial by-election in Makerfield, which could see Labour’s Andy Burnham claim victory, paving his way to return to Westminster and challenge Sir Keir.
The mayor of Greater Manchester is widely believed to be the prime minister’s most likely successor, having confirmed he would trigger a contest if he were to win the contest this week.
Mr Streeting expressed his hope that Sir Keir would use the weekend to reflect and choose to depart "on his own terms" following the vote.
But pressed on whether he would trigger a contest he stayed put, the ex-cabinet minister told BBC Newsnight: “We can’t carry on with this uncertainty and paralysis, and there will need to be a contest, and I’d be prepared to do that.”
On how soon he would be willing to mount a challenge, Mr Streeting said he did not want to “get into, ‘is it Monday, is it Tuesday'”, but that Sir Keir should be given “space over the weekend” to consider his position.
Asked if he would challenge Sir Keir if the Greater Manchester Mayor does not win the Makerfield by-election, he told LBC’s Andrew Marr show: “Yes, I believe we need a change of leadership and if Andy Burnham isn’t back, I still believe we need that change of leadership.”
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Mr Burnham is the favourite to win the by-election in the Greater Manchester constituency this week, multiple opinion polls have suggested.
His nearest challenger is Reform UK’s Robert Kenyon, though Nigel Farage’s political outfit is worried about losing voters to Restore Britain, a party which positions itself as more hardline than Reform on migration and other issues.
Amidst this internal Labour strife, the prime minister declared his intention to defy critics, vowing to "carry on with what I was elected to do" and "bring back the change that people desperately need" as he battles for his political survival.
Criticising the prime minister, Mr Streeting told Sky News’ The Cathy Newman Show: “I don’t think he’s listening to his former defence secretary, I don’t think he’s listening to military chiefs, I don’t think he’s listening to our Nato allies.
“In terms of the Labour Party, I don’t think he’s listening to his Cabinet, I don’t think he’s listening to the parliamentary party and I don’t think he’s listening to voters, who only in May sent the Labour Party that extremely humbling message at the ballot box.”
Speaking to reporters earlier at a press conference in central London where he outlined his economic vision, the senior Labour figure said: “There is a huge amount of talent on the front bench and the back bench of the parliamentary Labour Party.
“It isn’t used nearly well enough, and the divides between Labour’s different tribes are often overstated.
“I think we all have a shared sense of what’s wrong. I think we have different views about how to put it right, but at the end of it, we need to come together.”
Meanwhile, former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner heaped praise on Mr Burnham’s by-election campaign, saying he was winning over voters with a “new type of politics” in an interview with the Mirror.
She sidestepped questions on whether she would back the Greater Manchester Mayor but said it was “hard to escape the feeling that the public have had towards Keir”.
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