𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Labour MPs are planning to lend staff to a potential leadership bid by Wes Streeting as they draw up plans to depose the Prime Minister. A cabal of backbenchers have reportedly been scheming to put their staff on annual leave so they can campaign for a Streeting premiership, with some meeting with Westminster officials to see how it could be arranged. Allies of the health secretary are reported to have held secret talks with parliamentary officials so they can hold back annual leave until after the local elections in May and launch a challenge.

Mr Streeting himself has remained publicly loyal to Sir Keir, and has himself been photographed with Lord Mandelson – with his own husband having once worked for the disgraced peer. It is widely predicted that Labour will face a drubbing in the May local council elections, with polling predicting they could lose hundreds of seats. Following those results the Prime Minister could be subject to a leadership challenge as his premiership continues to flounder, by MPs desperate to keep their own jobs.

Labour MPs have been plotting for a while to install Mr Streeting as Prime Minister, the Times reports, but have been scheming to make their move in a way that won’t disrupt the Gorton & Denton by-election on February 26. One MP told the paper: “I’ve already told my staff, ‘If you want to take annual leave later in the year to go and work on Wes’s leadership campaign, I’d be fully supportive of that’.”

Another wannabe mutineer said: “These conversations are already happening, because even though colleagues have accepted there won’t be a change before May, they want Wes to be ready as soon as possible after.”

Mr Streeting himself has denied claims he is plotting to overthrow the Prime Minister, but allies are reported to have been sharpening their knives so they are ready after the local elections. His camp are reported to believe that the longer they wait, the more time they will give to disgraced former Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, to make her move.

Staff to Members of Parliament are paid by the taxpayer, and are not able to spend their working hours doing a political role. In order to campaign for Mr Streeting they would need to take annual leave.

A spokesperson for Streeting said: “Neither Wes or his team have asked anyone to not book leave or asked MPs to lend staff for a campaign. Wes’s entire focus has been on cutting waiting lists for the first time in 15 years, getting ambulances to arrive 15 minutes faster than last year and improving patient satisfaction with access to GPs.”