Streeting to meet Starmer on Wednesday as the prime minister defies calls to step down – as it happened
This is from Pippa Crerar, the Guardian’s political editor.double quotation markEXCL: Zubir Ahmed, health minister and another close ally of Wes Streeting, quits calling for Keir Starmer to step aside.Feels like the Streeting bid could be onHere is the letter...
,Jess Phillips, has resigned from the government, calling for Keir Starmer to quit and saying she has grown tired of seeing “opportunities for progress stalled and delayed”,Four ministers quit on Tuesday and joined nearly 90 MPs to have called for the prime minister to go,But Starmer told his cabinet earlier in the day that he would fight on as prime minister, saying the threshold for a leadership challenge had not been met,Zubir Ahmed, a health minister, and Alex Davies-Jones, the minister for victims and tackling violence against women and girls, resigned shortly after Phillips.
The communities minister Miatta Fahnbulleh was the first minister to resign from government, calling the PM him to quit.The health secretary, Wes Streeting, widely seen as a leadership hopeful, will meet Keir Starmer on Wednesday morning, the Press Association understands.It is understood that Streeting will not say anything after the meeting that could distract from the King’s Speech.David Lammy, the deputy PM, urged the MPs trying to get rid of Keir Starmer to back off.He said: “Let’s get on with the business of running this country and government.
That’s what I’ve been doing today, and that’s what the prime minister’s been doing.And I urge colleagues to step back and not benefit Nigel Farge and Reform.”Marie Rimmer, the Labour MP for St Helens South and Whiston, said she will not give up her seat for Andy Burnham.She said: “Recent speculation regarding my parliamentary constituency seat is completely unfounded.”More than 100 Labour MPs signed a letter saying this is “no time for a leadership contest”.
This means the pro-Starmer camp is outnumbering the anti-Starmer camp – but only just.According to the LabourList tally, 88 Labour MPs have said the PM should go.Keir Starmer was increasingly confident that he had seen off the immediate threat to his job on Tuesday after a challenge from Wes Streeting failed to materialise despite several of the prime minister’s allies quitting the government, writes Pippa Crerar, Jessica Elgot and Kiran Stacey.Downing Street insiders suggested that the health secretary did not yet have the required support from the 81 MPs he needed to formally launch a leadership bid after Starmer issued a ‘put up or shut up’ ultimatum to his cabinet.Streeting was due to hold talks with Starmer on Wednesday, at which he was expected to talk candidly about his concerns, with No 10 insiders suggesting he was climbing down from intense speculation that he was on the brink of running.
“After all that, it’s looking like Wes may not have the numbers after all,” one loyalist cabinet minister told the Guardian.“I’m pleased and furious at the same time.The best thing for him now is to come out with some dignity and end the drama.”Starmer’s allies also believe he has seen off a threat from the Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, for the time being, with one saying: “Andy’s supporters keep saying he’s got a seat.But where is it? It’s not real unless he has one.
”Sources also told the Guardian that Ed Miliband, who has privately suggested to Starmer that he should consider setting out a timeline for his departure, had been prepared to run for leader himself if Streeting had gone over the top.Chris Curtis, the Labour Growth Group’s parliamentary chairman, said a change of party leadership is “probably coming at this stage”.The MP told Sky News: “I think that clearly when this number of MPs have come out and said that they think that a change of leadership is required – and I added my voice to that chorus – it’s going to be very difficult to put that genie back into the bottle, and a change of leadership is probably coming at this stage.“The only question is how quickly it comes about and what that process is.”Labour MP Rupa Huq has denied signing a letter in support of the prime minister.
More than 100 MPs were listed on the letter, which said it is “no time for a leadership contest”, including Huq, the MP for Ealing Central and Acton.In a post on X, she said: “Surprised to see my name on this list when I haven’t either signed any letter supporting the PM or called for the PM to go??“Not very courteous of colleagues to put names down without their approval.”Internet safety and children’s rights campaigners say they have been frustrated for months by Keir Starmer’s lack of leadership on blocking child abuse images on children’s phones, speaking out after Jess Phillips resigned from the government saying she was tired of seeing “opportunities for progress stalled and delayed”.The influential Labour politician was one of four ministers who quit on Tuesday and joined more than 80 MPs to have called for the prime minister to go.In a coruscating letter she focused on a lack of urgency and boldness in tackling child abuse images, accusing Starmer of failing to take action to block children being able to take or send naked pictures.
“Over a year ago I presented solutions, long worked on by brilliant civil servants, that would end the ability for children in the UK to take naked images of themselves,” she said,“We could stop this abuse,It has taken me a year to get you to agree to even threaten to legislate in this space,Not legislate, just threaten,This is the definition of incremental change.
Nothing bold about it.The announcement was meant to be in March.”Sources who had pushed on the policy behind the scenes said measures had found support in the Home Office and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, but had encountered a wall of inertia in Downing Street.They said that despite “private assurances” from the prime minister that he would do more to keep children safe online, it had been sat on his desk “for months”.Former housing, communities and local minister Miatta Fahnbulleh has insisted did not resign from the government as part of a “coup”.
Fahnbulleh said she was not working with health secretary Wes Streeting – who is widely seen as a leadership hopeful – nor with his aides to bring down Keir Starmer.She told Sky News: “I don’t think this is a coup.For me, this is a personal decision.“It’s a really hard thing for colleagues to go on the record and to say that they have lost confidence in the prime minister, that they don’t think he can lead us forward.That is a very personal decision.
“I know each and every colleague will be grappling with what they heard on the doorstep, and those were some tough, brutal messages that we got, and trying to make a judgment about what is best for the country.“And ultimately, it’s not about a coordinated plot.It’s about each of us making that decision.”The last time Keir Starmer faced a threat to his leadership, his core team assembled in the cabinet room and persuaded ministers to fire off a succession of supportive tweets in an attempt to keep him in office.This time has been different.
As the number of MPs calling for the prime minister to resign has grown over the last 48 hours, much of the cabinet has remained quiet,And though the prime minister remained in office by Tuesday night, some in government were wondering whether his political operation was as sharp as it once was, especially since the departure of Starmer’s long-term aide Morgan McSweeney,“How could they not plan for this, it’s mad,” said one MP, frustrated at what they saw as a lack of fightback from Downing Street,Another said there was “literally no guidance or plan, I have no idea what plan it was that they think they were preparing”,Starmer’s political operation is a very different one from what it was for most of his first 20 months in office, during which the prime minister would decide the broad direction of the government but leave much of the daily politics to McSweeney.
Donald Trump has had his say and claimed Keir Starmer was “windmilling the country to death” but said it was up to the PM whether or not to quit.Speaking at the White House before flying to China, Trump said: “Well, my advice to him has always been, open up your oil in the North Sea.“You got one of the great oil finds anywhere in the world, and you’re not using it, they’re not allowed to use it, and it’s one of the best in the world, among the best oils in the world.“Open up your oil in the North Sea and get tough on immigration.“Europe is being very, very hurt by immigration all over Europe.
”Asked whether the prime minister should stay in office or quit, Trump added: “That’s up to him, but I told him from day one, you’re getting killed on energy.“You’re windmilling your country to death.Open up the North Sea.You have one of the greatest sources of energy in the world.”Politico reported that Buckingham Palace had privately asked whether King Charles should proceed as planned with the ceremonial state opening of parliament on Wednesday, as Keir Starmer faces a mounting leadership crisis that threatens to force him out of office.
It said according to people familiar with the matter, granted anonymity to speak freely, the king’s team made clear in conversation with Starmer’s officials the importance of protecting the monarch from any impression that he is being used for political ends.It said that according to the people familiar with the matter, in one recent discussion Charles’s senior aide asked top government officials including Cabinet Secretary Antonia Romeo whether the king should go ahead with Wednesday’s ceremony.The Palace was told that it was constitutionally correct for the king to open parliament on Wednesday as planned.But in the discussions with the Palace, which also included Starmer’s office, there was a general acknowledgement that this year’s ceremony would be an awkward moment for the king, Politico reported.The Palace made clear that the king would fulfil his constitutional duties as required but that it should be for the politicians to handle the political crisis and the monarch should not be involved, it said.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the report.It is understood it sees State Opening as a matter for the government.Conversations between the Palace and No 10 happen all the time about all manner of things, which is part of normal business.But, it is understood, that at no time did, nor would, anyone ever suggest State Opening might not go ahead.John Healey publicly promised the UK was willing to contribute HMS Dragon, RAF Typhoons and mine clearance specialists to any post-war Hormuz peace keeping mission at a 40 country virtual meeting of defence ministers held this afternoon.
The defence secretary made a reference to the current political crisis in his opening remarks arguing, for the second time on Tuesday that politicians should focus on protecting the public, and by implication, not be distracted by infighting.“The crisis in the Middle East affects all our nations - our people, our companies, our economies - and we must meet this moment.We must have a hard focus on this crisis, as the weeks and months ahead will define the fortunes of our economies over the next few years.“And our responsibility as political leaders, regardless of domestic politics, must be the protection of our people from this immediate crisis ahead.That’s why this mission is so important.
“And we all want to see the ceasefire strengthened.We want to see it sustained, and we want an end of this conflict for good.”
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