Contenders to replace Keir Starmer as Labour leader face uncertainty

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s leadership is facing mounting calls for change after Labour suffered heavy defeats in local elections last week, the Associated Press reported. Dozens of Labour lawmakers have urged Starmer to step down and allow a leadership contest that could determine who takes over as prime minister. Starmer, however, has insisted he is staying put, and AP said no formal leadership challenge has yet been launched.

AP’s account framed the pressure as part of a wider political strain on Starmer, including controversy involving his appointment of Peter Mandelson as Britain’s ambassador to Washington. AP said Starmer’s decision has been criticized in connection with Mandelson’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein, after which Starmer’s position faced additional scrutiny inside the party.

While AP said there is no clear frontrunner to replace Starmer at this stage, the article listed several senior figures seen as potential contenders for Labour’s top job. Those names include Health Secretary Wes Streeting, former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, former Cabinet minister Andy Burnham, former Labour leader Ed Miliband, and Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood.

Wes Streeting, AP reported, is Health Secretary and is “widely regarded as one of the government’s best communicators.” AP said Streeting, 43, has led on one of the government’s key pledges to improve the “creaky National Health Service.” AP also said speculation about his leadership ambitions had circulated for some time, and that the spotlight intensified last year when Starmer’s allies allegedly told British media that the prime minister would fight attempts to challenge his leadership—media speculation at the time centered on Streeting. AP reported that Streeting, elected as a lawmaker in 2015, strongly denied plotting to replace Starmer and called suggestions of a challenge “nonsense.”

Angela Rayner, AP reported, is a former deputy prime minister and a longtime Labour figure on the left of the party. AP said Rayner, 46, was raised in social housing and left school at 16 as a teen mother, and that she was active in trade unions before being elected as a lawmaker in 2015. AP said she rose quickly through Labour’s senior ranks while the party was in opposition and was elected deputy leader in 2020. AP also said Rayner enjoys significant support within Labour but was forced to resign from the government last year after admitting she did not pay enough tax on a house purchase, and that she is still awaiting the findings of an official review tied to that controversy.

AP added that Rayner emerged as a leading figure in a parliamentary push after the Epstein files’ revelations on Mandelson. It reported that Rayner led a lawmakers’ revolt aimed at forcing the government to cede control to Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee to decide which documents should be released into the public domain.

Andy Burnham is another contender AP highlighted, describing him as the center-left Greater Manchester mayor and a former Cabinet minister. AP said Burnham, 56, has long been viewed as a potential rival to Starmer, but that his prospects were dented when Labour blocked him from standing as the party’s candidate for Parliament in a special election in February. AP said the prime minister must be a member of Parliament by longstanding convention, and that Burnham’s supporters favor a delayed leadership contest that would give him time to return to the House of Commons through a special election. AP also noted that Burnham served in previous Labour governments in senior roles including culture secretary and health secretary.

Ed Miliband is also in AP’s list of leading contenders, with AP calling him a former Labour leader who previously led the party during five years in opposition. AP said Miliband, 56, ended his time at the top after Labour’s 2015 election defeat and that he has publicly played down any desire to return to the job. AP nevertheless described him as one of the most experienced members of the Cabinet.

Shabana Mahmood, AP said, is the Home Secretary and oversees immigration as well as law and order. AP reported that Mahmood, 45, has become a favorite for some on the right of Labour, citing her moves to tighten border controls and crack down on unauthorized immigration. The AP article presented her as one of several figures who could be considered in any leadership contest.

For now, AP said the central uncertainty remains whether Starmer will be forced out as party pressure grows, or whether Labour’s leadership dispute stays informal until a formal challenge is launched—an outcome that would determine who might become prime minister.