Streeting’s bid, long discussed in British politics, became explicit Saturday when the former health secretary said he wants to oust Prime Minister Keir Starmer and take over at the top of the Labour government. In remarks reported by the Associated Press, Streeting framed the move as a call for a leadership contest, saying “We need a proper contest with the best candidates on the field, and I’ll be standing.”
The announcement makes Streeting the first member of Parliament to declare he will take on Starmer, setting the stage for what the AP described as a likely bruising internal contest for control of the Labour Party. The context is the party’s slide after winning a historic landslide election that swept out Conservatives after 14 years in power, followed by what Streeting and others say has been mounting electoral and political pressure.
Streeting tied the timing of his move to the results of the May 7 local and regional U.K. elections, in which Nigel Farage’s anti-immigrant Reform UK made huge gains. “The voters did more than send Labour a message last week,” Streeting said, adding that “They issued a warning: that unless we change course, we risk being the handmaidens of Nigel Farage and the breakup of the United Kingdom.”
Starmer, meanwhile, has vowed to fight on despite falling public support amid setbacks, policy reversals, and questions over his judgment in appointing a friend of Jeffrey Epstein—Peter Mandelson— as U.S. ambassador. The AP report said the government is facing weeks of chaos after Starmer rejected calls to resign following Labour’s disastrous results in the May 7 elections.
Streeting’s path to the top ranks of Labour, as described by the AP, mixes politics with a strong public profile in Parliament. The report says he is widely regarded as one of the party’s best communicators and has spoken on issues including the war in Gaza. It also describes his rise from London’s working-class East End, where he grew up in public housing, to roles including leading the Cambridge student union and becoming president of the National Union of Students, and later work for Stonewall.
As health secretary, the AP report says Streeting turned his Cabinet role into a personal mission to fix the National Health Service, in part after battling kidney cancer. “The NHS saved my life,” Streeting said when he was named health secretary, adding that “Today, I can begin to repay that debt by saving our NHS.”
Even as he signaled ambition, the AP report says Streeting had maintained his support for Starmer and denied he was planning to replace him. But the report describes how that line became difficult last week, when talk of a coup dominated headlines during the ceremonial opening of Parliament, as King Charles III delivered the government’s blueprint. Streeting quit the Cabinet the following day, becoming the first minister to do so, saying he had lost confidence in Starmer and criticized him for lacking vision and direction.
The AP report said Streeting distanced himself from Epstein-related controversy involving Mandelson earlier this year by releasing email exchanges he said showed he was not a close friend of Mandelson. In one of the emails he posted through the Guardian, Streeting wrote: “Contrary to what has been widely reported, I was not a close friend of Peter Mandelson, but I am not going to wash my hands of my actual association with him either,” and the report said another email included his criticism of Starmer’s leadership, writing that “there isn’t a clear answer to the question: why Labour?” Streeting is expected to further lay out his case for Labour in the coming weeks, according to the AP report.