Health secretary Wes Streeting announced Thursday (14) that he has resigned from the Keir Starmer cabinet, paving the way for a potential leadership challenge against the embattled prime minister.
In his resignation letter to the prime minister, which Streeting posted on X, he said he had "lost confidence" in Starmer's leadership.
"It is now clear that you will not lead the Labour Party into the next general election and that Labour MPs and Labour Unions want the debate about what comes next to be a battle of ideas, not of personalities or petty factionalism," Streeting said in a letter published on X.
"It needs to be broad, and it needs the best possible field of candidates. I support that approach and I hope that you will facilitate this."
Streeting, 43, did not say whether he had the required support of 81 Labour MPs - 20 percent of the party in parliament - to trigger a contest.
Starmer, who led his Labour party to victory in 2024 elections ending 14 years of Conservative rule, is fighting to save his job after disastrous local and regional polls last week.
Four junior ministers, including Streeting's deputy, Zubir Ahmed, have resigned, and more than 80 Labour MPs have urged Starmer to quit, but he has vowed to cling on, and more than 100 lawmakers from the ruling party have called for him to stay.
Healthcare achievements
In his resignation letter, Streeting also recounted the improvements in the healthcare service during his tenure:
"I am pleased to report that I have delivered against the ambitious targets you set for me when I became your Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.
"Today’s figures confirm that we surpassed our waiting times target despite strikes, and that waiting lists fell by 110,000 in March – the biggest monthly drop outside of Covid since 2008 – meaning that we are on track to achieve the fastest improvement in NHS waiting times in history.
"The only question that matters in government is whether we leave our successors a better situation than we inherited. Ambulance response times for heart attacks and strokes are now the fastest in five years. A&E waiting times are improving, with four-hour waiting figures also the best in five years.
"We’ve recruited 2,000 more GPs and satisfaction has risen from 60 per cent to 74.5 per cent since we came to office. We hit our target of recruiting 8,500 mental health staff three years early.
"We’ve achieved this at the same as balancing the books for the first time in nine years and smashing the 2 per cent NHS productivity target by achieving 2.8 per cent, which means the investment we’re putting in goes further and that the public can have greater confidence that their money is being well-spent.
Pharmacies in the dark: Gregg
National Pharmacy Association chief executive Henry Gregg has expressed concern that Streeting's resignation could further delay the financial settlement, which already is "hopelessly late".
He said, "Pharmacies are still in the dark about their funding for this financial year, which began a month and a half ago. It would be very damaging to the pharmacy network if political uncertainty was to delay a financial settlement which is already hopelessly late.
"Our members remain under significant pressure and are anxious to see progress towards closing the gap – identified by the NHS itself – between the cost of pharmacy services and the funding the NHS offers to deliver them.
"These political events should not detract from the focus we need on stabilising the pharmacy network and unleashing its potential to realise the Government’s ambition to move care closer to communities, which is what both pharmacies and patients want.
"We look forward to working with the future health secretary to help address these vital issues."
Rayner factor
On Thursday, his former deputy Angela Rayner announced that UK tax authorities had "cleared" her of deliberate wrongdoing in a tax affair, opening the way for her to compete in a potential leadership race.
The 46-year-old insisted she would not be the one to trigger a contest, but told the Guardian newspaper she would play "whatever role I can" to "deliver the change".
Rayner, a left-wing figurehead hugely popular among Labour's grassroots activists, also called on Starmer to "reflect" on his position.
She was forced to step down in September for underpaying a property duty, but said on Thursday the UK tax authority HMRC had exonerated her of "the accusation that I deliberately sought to avoid tax".
Rayner quit as deputy PM and housing, communities and local government minister after an investigation found she had breached the ministerial code over the purchase of a flat in southern England. Media reported she had paid off £40,000 ($54,000) in outstanding tax.
Burnham in the race?
Streeting is popular on the right of Labour, but is disliked by MPs on the left who would prefer Rayner or Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham as leader.
Burnham is currently blocked from running as he does not have a seat in the Westminster parliament. His supporters want Starmer to set a detailed timetable for his departure that allows Burnham to stand.
Starmer's spokesman insisted Thursday that the prime minister was going nowhere.
He "is purely focused on governing. He is getting on with the job of doing just that," the spokesman told reporters.
Local poll drubbing
Voters last week punished Starmer over his 22 months in power in local ballots, which saw huge gains for the hard-right Reform UK party and the left-wing populist Greens at Labour's expense.
The Labour Party lost control of the devolved Welsh parliament for the first time and failed to make up ground on the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) in the parliament in Edinburgh.
Rayner earlier stopped short of calling for Starmer to resign, but said voters were frustrated with the way the government was being run.
Starmer has vowed to fight any contest and came out fighting on Monday, pledging to do better and prove his doubters "wrong".
He has been backed by several senior cabinet ministers, including Finance Minister Rachel Reeves, who urged colleagues Thursday not to put the economy "at risk" by "plunging the country into chaos" with a leadership challenge.
