Good morning. Today it looks as though the phoney Labour leadership contest that has been bubbling away at least since Sunday may finally turn into a real one. Westminster is braced for Wes Streeting, the health secretary, to announce that he is standing – although journalists are not yet 100% certain it will happen.
This morning, in a joint scoop, the Guardian and ITV had news that could affect Streeting’s calculations. As Pippa Crerar reports, Angela Rayner, the former deputy PM, has been cleared by HMRC of deliberate wrongdoing or carelessness over her tax affairs.
In an interview with Pippa, Rayner said that she would not challenge Starmer herself. But she said she wanted to see change, “action, not just words”. Asked whether Starmer should step aside, she said: “Keir will have to reflect on that.”
If there is a contest, Rayner did not rule out being a candidate, but she also hinted that she might back someone else. She said:
double quotation mark I’ll play my part in doing everything we possibly can to deliver the change, because it’s not a personal ambition, I know the difference it makes. Whatever role I can play, I will keep pushing and pushing hard because I want the people out there at the moment who are really struggling … to know that I’m putting all my energy into fighting for them.
Rayner has hinted that she would be happy for Andy Burnham (who, like her, is on Labour’s soft-left wing – Streeting is identified with Labour’s right) to replace Starmer. But Burnham could only be a candidate if he can find a seat and return to the Commons in a byelection. We are expecting to hear more on that soon. Burnham has cancelled his regular weekly appearance on Radio Manchester saying he needs to prioritise “discussions arising from last week’s local elections”.
We don’t know when the possible main announcements for today – from Streeting and Burnham – might happen. But here are the events that are in the diary.
9.30am: NHS England publishes its monthly performance figures. Normally Streeting, as health secretary, records a short clip for broadcasters when they come out.
After 10.30am: MPs resume the king’s speech debate, focusing on economic growth.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
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Key events
Streeting in standoff with No 10 as allies claim ‘things are shifting’
Wes Streeting is locked in a standoff with No 10 as allies claimed he had the numbers to launch a leadership challenge but still hoped Keir Starmer would resign, Jessica Elgot reports. She says:
double quotation mark The health secretary had been widely expected to launch a challenge on Thursday and has told supporters he has the backing of the 81 MPs required to launch a formal contest. A shifting”.But allies said he was still hoping not to have to move against Starmer directly and that more and more MPs were privately asking the prime minister to resign or set out a departure timetable.
Cabinet ministers told the Guardian it was untrue that they were planning to ask Starmer to go on Thursday afternoon, accusing Streeting’s supporters of trying to “brief resignations into existence”.
Here is Jess’s full story.
Starmer/Streeting/Labour leadership: lobby latest on what on earth might be going on
Here is some comment from political journalists prompted by the latest “things are shifting” briefing from the Wes Streeting camp this morning. (See 11.20am.)
From Steven Swinford at the Times
double quotation mark Totally surreal situation now:Wes Streeting was preparing to launch today but may now delay because he is said to be struggling to get the numbers. His people deny this – they say he has the numbers – but say that things have changed and more cabinet ministers are going over the top and pressing for Starmer to go. But…
Keir Starmer insists he is going nowhere. The number calling for him to go remains at 92 – where it’s been for the last 24 hours – equivalent to nearly a third of backbenchers. His allies say that good news on economy and NHS makes his case for him. He is going fo fight on ….
None of this is remotely sustainable. How can you have a senior Cabinet minister publicly positioning himself for a run at Number 10? How can you have a third of backbenchers publicly calling for the PM to go.
From Alex Wickham at Bloomberg
double quotation mark [The Streeting briefing] suggests to me Streeting is holding off from making his move until more cabinet ministers and MPs call for Starmer to go. And they may say they have the numbers but they haven’t yet proved it.
Wickham also says ministers are disputing the claim from the Streeting camp that cabinet ministers are telling Starmer to go.
double quotation mark People familiar with the thinking of at least four cabinet ministers, including those close to both Streeting and Burnham, immediately DENY this claim by Streeting’s camp that they’ll go to Starmer today to tell him to go
From Rob Powell at Sky
double quotation mark Are we stuck in the Streeting Catch-22? Avoiding the accusation of putting personal ambition above national interest means not being the one to trigger the race. But staying silent amid the lack of anyone else triggering it is not exactly politically beneficial either.
FromRobert Peston at ITV
double quotation mark Those close to Streeting say he has more than 81 nominations and could trigger a leadership contest. But they believe Streeting’s announcement could be pre-empted by the PM announcing a timetable for his departure, even today.This could all be feverish wishful thinking. But I have been told by less partisan government sources that we are “in the end game”.
From Adam Boulton from Times Radio
double quotation mark In a nutshell, Labour MPs nearly all want someone other than @Keir_Starmer but they don’t know who that is.
No 10 says Streeting still health secretary, and PM still has confidence in him
The Downing Street lobby briefing has just finished. Wes Streeting is still health secretary, and the PM still has full confidence in him, the PM’s spokesperson said. The spokersperson said the situation had not changed since yesterday, he said.
Ben Quinn
Ben Quinn is a Guardian political correspondent.
Nigel Farage is facing a formal investigation over a £5m gift from the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne, parliament’s standards watchdog formally confirmed today.
The Reform UK leader’s name has been published on the websiteof the parliamentary commissioner for standards, which states he is being investigated over an alleged “failure to declare an interest”.
The probe was opened yesterday according to the entry, which confirms he is being investigated under rule 5 of the code of conduct for MPs. Rule 5 of the code of conduct obliges MPs to “fulfil conscientiously” requirements relating to their registration of interests.
Farage is one of five MPs who are currently the focus of ongoing investigations by the standards watchdog, although he is the only one being probed under rule 5.
Wes Streeting’s allies have been briefing journalists. This is from Alex Wickham at Bloomberg, but other lobby correspondents are being given the same message.
double quotation mark Supporters of Wes Streeting claim he has the numbers BUT they say “things are shifting”They claim MPs who signed the loyalty letter told the PM last night he has to go
They claim cabinet ministers are going in to Downing Street today tell Starmer to go
They claim Darren Jones is telling MPs the PM is going to go
Ed Davey accuses Streeting of having ‘dire track record’ at NHS, saying 12-hour A&E waits up 20% since 2024
The Liberal Democrats say Wes Streeting should not be celebrating the NHS England performance figures out today. They are focusing on the figures for waits lasting more than 12 hours in A&E departments.
According to the Press Association, the number of people waiting more than 12 hours in A&E departments in England from a decision to admit to actually being admitted stood at 47,750 in April, up slightly from 46,665 in March, NHS figures indicate. The figure reached a record 71,517 people in January.
The Lib Dems says:
double quotation mark 220,581 A&E patients have had to wait over 12 hours from decision to admit to admission, such as on a corridor or in a plastic chair, so far this year. That number is the worst on record. The equivalent period in 2025 saw 20,000 fewer patients face this ordeal, and is up by nearly 40,000 on the equivalent point in 2024. This means that since Labour took office the numbers facing degrading trolley waits has increased by over 20%.
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, said:
double quotation mark The devastating A&E statistics this morning prove that Wes Streeting has been too busy measuring the curtains in Number 10 to turn our NHS around.This is a dire track record for any minister with plans to take the top job. Labour’s management of our NHS has been a walking policy disaster.
Kevin Schofield, political editor at HuffPost UK, says a Wes Streeting leadership challenge is now looking more unlikely.
double quotation mark Looking increasingly unlikely that Wes Streeting will challenge Keir Starmer today.Some in his team are not convinced he has the 81 supporters locked in to formally launch a contest.
Suspicion that Angela Rayner’s announcement this morning that she’s been cleared by HMRC is also making Streeting think twice.
(Readers may be getting fed up with the uncertainty. You’re not alone; journalists would like a bit of certainty too.)
Streeting says NHS England has achieved biggest single-month cut in waiting lists in 17 years
Wes Streeting hasn’t resigned yet – because he has just issued a statement about the NHS England waiting figures.
He said:
double quotation mark Our plan for the NHS is working. This is the biggest cut in waiting lists in a single month in 17 years.It means we are right on track to deliver the fastest reduction in waiting times in the history of the NHS.
That is thanks to the Government’s investment, modernisation, and the remarkable efforts of staff right across the country.
Lots done, lots more to do.
Here is the NHS England news release about the figures. Confusingly, the figures it quotes don’t seem to match the claim Streeting is making. It says “the waiting list fell by over 312,000 last year, the largest year-on-year reduction in 16 years”. I’m seeking clarification as to why Streeting described the figures differently.
UPDATE: NHS England says that, when Streeting refers to the biggest single-month drop in 17 years, he was referring to figures showing that there was a 110,000 drop in the waiting list in March – the biggest individual monthly drop in 17 years.
Cleared by HMRC, Angela Rayner says Labour must deliver change – video
Here is a clip from Pippa Crerar’s inteview with Angela Rayner.
Ed Miliband, the energy secreratary and Labour leader from 2010 to 2015, has also told some colleagues that, in the right circumstances, he could stand for the leadership, Newsnight’s Nicholas Watt reports. Publicly, Miliband has said he won’t stand again. But soft-left Labour are in a panic over who would be their candidate in the event of Wes Streeting launching a contest. Broadly, they don’t want to back Starmer, because they think he will lose the next election; they like Andy Burnham, but are not confident he will be a candidate; and they have reservations about Angela Rayner, another potential ‘stop Streeting’ option.
