Politics Home Article | Wes Streeting Resigns As Health Secretary

Wes Streeting leaves No 10 on Wednesday (Alamy)

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The resignation comes as Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s future looks increasingly fraught amid resignations and calls from those in government for him to resign following a disastrous set of local elections in which the party lost 1,500 council seats.

Streeting met with Starmer in Downing Street on Wednesday morning, leaving No 10 after just 16 minutes. The Times reported that Streeting had told the Prime Minister that he was preparing to challenge him for the leadership.

In his resignation letter to Starmer on Thursday, Streeting said: “As you know from our conversation earlier this week, having lost confidence in your leadership, I have concluded that it would be dishonourable and unprincipled to do so.”

Pointing to the local election results last week, Streeting said: “Last week’s election results were unprecedented – both in terms of the scale of the defeat and the consequences of that failure.”

“There is no doubt that the unpopularity of this government was a major and common factor in our defeats across England, Scotland and Wales. Good Labour people lost through no fault of their own. 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,” he continued.

Streeting said that the party currently has a “vacuum” instead of “vision”, and “drift” instead of “direction”.

“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.”

Streeting said it was “now clear” that Starmer would not lead Labour 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”.

However, Streeting did not say in his letter that he would challenge Starmer for the leadership.

“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.”

As of Wednesday, four ministers had resigned from government, including health minister Zubir Ahmed, who is a close ally of Streeting.

He was preceded by faith and communities minister Miatta Fahnbulleh, Home Office minister Jess Phillips and Ministry of Justice minister Alex-Davies Jones.

On Wednesday, PoliticsHome reported that junior minister Josh MacAlister, Labour MP for Whitehaven and Workington, had told the Prime Minister to set out a timetable for his departure.

At the time of writing, more than 90 Labour MPs have publicly called for Starmer to resign.

On Tuesday, PoliticsHome reported that Darren Jones, chief secretary to the Prime Minister, had sparked suspicion among colleagues that he was seeking support for his own leadership bid.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband is also seen as a potential contender for the leadership. Miliband’s allies told PoliticsHome on Wednesday that he would have the numbers to stand in a leadership contest if Manchester mayor Andy Burnham cannot get a seat in time.

Angela Rayner revealed in an interview with The Guardian on Thursday morning that she had been cleared by HMRC of deliberate wrongdoing or carelessness over her tax affairs. It means that Rayner could put her name forward in a bid for the leadership.