Wes Streeting resigns but stops short of a leadership bid
The now ex-Health Secretary has tendered his resignation, Andy Burnham has charged upon London, and Rayner has been cleared by HMRC. In spite of it all, Keir Starmer still has his chances.
A few days ago, I predicted that Wes Streeting could become prime minister if, and only if, he could “borrow Catherine West’s balls within the next week”. Said balls have now been well and truly borrowed as the (now former) Health Secretary has tendered his resignation in a two page, well-written but badly proofread letter.
Yet, my prediction seems to have been built on quite shaky ground.
Since Catherine West took it upon herself to decide that Sir Keir Starmer’s political career was over, Wes Streeting has been in a briefing war with Number Ten as to whether he had “the numbers” — the 81 fellow MPs who would co-sign his leadership bid. As the days went on, more and more of Streeting’s allies went ahead of him with their own resignations, yet the man himself refused to move. This was ostensibly so that he would not overshadow the King’s Speech on Wednesday. Naturally, it overshadowed it anyway, as discussion turned to whether the Ilford North MP had missed his long-awaited opportunity to go all Judas Iscariot on Starmer.
Because as Wes Streeting continued his political assassination by briefing, the soft-left machine whirred into action. Andy Burnham descended upon London and shrouded himself in mystery. Why had he come? Who was he meeting? Which MP will he convince to give up their seat for him? Meanwhile, Angela Rayner took over the morning news bulletins with the happy news that HMRC had exonerated her on her stamp duty issues. Suddenly, the opposition to Streeting’s budding bid was coming into vision.
Judging by Streeting’s own resignation letter, and the fact he is now calling for a “broad” contest with “the best possible field of candidates” — which could therefore feasibly include Andy Burnham, the infinitely more northern and more interesting version of Keir Starmer — it is now clear that, if he ever had “the numbers”, then he certainly does not have them right this minute. The soft-led machine seems to have done its work quite well.
The question now is whether this is the resignation of a man who thinks he can take on the King of the North and win, or the resignation of a man who recognises that it is not his time, and who would quite like a spot in the cabinet of whoever wins the nigh on unavoidable leadership contest.
The most fascinating aspect of all of this Labour Party psychodrama is what good it has done for the prime minister’s image. For a man whom many in the streets would describe as a “wet wipe”, he has shown remarkable resolve and steadfastness in the face of his party’s implosion.
While it seems increasingly doubtful that he will succeed in beating off a leadership contest in the bud, he is doing a fine job setting the stage for a Starmer win when the contest does arrive.
The Labour Party uses a method of voting where members rank candidates in order of preference. A candidate needs a majority of more than 50% to win. Until a candidate has this 50%, any lower scoring candidates have their supporters’ votes redistributed according to their preferences.
Given the old adage that it is “better the devil you know”, it is not improbable that many who are unwilling to support Starmer outright may still pencil him in as a second choice in the hopes of stability. In a vote split between hard-line supporters of Starmer, Streeting and the inevitable “soft-left” ticket (Burnham/Rayner/Miliband), it may well turn out that Starmer could recuperate enough second-choice votes to win the contest.
Of course, this is simple conjecture. To misquote Harold Wilson: a week is a long time in politics, let alone a few months. By the time the Labour Party decides it is ready and willing to have its leadership contest, the state of play could be looking a great deal different.
For now, it would be wise to hedge one’s bets as to whether Wes Streeting will snatch the keys of Number Ten out of poor Sir Keir’s grasp. But, for its sheer comedic value, I’ll happily put a tenner on Andy Burnham losing his by-election.