𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Wes Streeting has “royally f***ed” his reported bid to replace Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister, it has been claimed. Streeting resigned as Health Secretary today, claiming in a letter to the Prime Minister that he no longer had faith in his ability to lead the Labour Party as he slated his record in Government.

Speculation had been growing for days that Streeting would quit his role in Cabinet in a bid to trigger a leadership contest, but his failure to do the latter left one expert believing that it was a sign that Streeting had got his approach wrong and did not have the support to do so. Speaking about his decision to quit on the News Agents podcast, Lewis Goodall said: “I think what has happened here is that Wes Streeting has made the best of a bad job.

“I think that he rightly will have concluded that, given the speculation, given the fact that they had allowed the impression to build up that he was going to resign, that if he didn’t and he had gone back with his tail tucked between his legs and said ‘I’m going to stay in Cabinet, his political reputation would be irrecoverable.

“He would have been lessened to the point of non-existence.”

He added: “There is another interpretation of it that someone in the Government was putting to me in less friendly terms.

“Wes didn’t have the numbers; he spent all morning trying to get the Cabinet to move against Keir and failed.

“He now thinks over the medium term the best way to collect real numbers is to resign, but in fact, he has royally f***ed it.”

In a letter accepting Mr Streeting’s resignation, the Prime Minister said he hoped the two “can work together to show that Labour in power can address the problems our opponents exploit”.

The departure of the Cabinet big beast follows days of turmoil in which calls have mounted for the Prime Minister to step down in the wake of Labour’s election mauling last week.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “I fundamentally disagree with the position he’s taken” as she suggested Mr Streeting’s resignation marked “a chance for us to pause, take a breath as a party and try and draw a line under all of this”.

In his resignation letter, Mr Streeting blamed the “unprecedented” election results in part on “the unpopularity of this Government”, adding: “There are many reasons we could point to: from individual mistakes on policy like the decision to cut the winter fuel allowance to the ‘island of strangers’ speech, all of which have left the country not knowing who we are or what we really stand for.”

Mr Streeting praised Sir Keir’s “many great strengths” and “courage and statesmanship on the world stage”, but continued: “Where we need vision, we have a vacuum. Where we need direction, we have drift.

“This was underscored by your speech on Monday. Leaders take responsibility, but too often that has meant other people falling on their swords.

“You also need to listen to your colleagues, including backbenchers, and the heavy-handed approach to dissenting voices diminishes our politics.”

Hours later, fellow leadership challenger Andy Burnham said he will ask to stand for Labour in a by-election after an MP quit to make way for the Greater Manchester Mayor to return to Parliament to challenge Sir Keir Starmer.

Mr Burnham said he wanted to return to Westminster to “bring the change we have brought to Greater Manchester to the whole of the UK and make politics work properly for people”.

It comes after Josh Simons, Labour MP for Makerfield, said he would stand down so Mr Burnham can “drive the change our country is crying out for”.