Labour ministers urging Starmer to sack Streeting 'also want to be PM'
Sir Keir Starmer is facing calls from cabinet ministers to sack Wes Streeting because rival factions are all jockeying for position to topple him as Prime Minister, it has been claimed.A left wing political commentator said today that Streeting was also 'unpopular' with some factions of the Labour party and the people who were briefing against him had their own agenda.Rachel Cunliffe from the New Statesman said the latest upheaval was a sign of a 'growing awareness that change was needed' rather than one that Starmer was set to be succeeded by the Health Minister.She told the BBC that the briefings against Wes Streeting 'spoke to the government's unpopularity' and did not necessarily mean he was favoured to replace him by everyone.Instead she suggested the Machiavellian manoeuvrings were intended to position other candidates as possible successors to Starmer by 'stamping on Wes Streeting's momentum'.Persistent rumours that the ambitious Health Secretary is feathering his own nest by acting like a leader in waiting have led to fellow ministers urging Starmer to cut him loose.Earlier this week, Transport Alexander Heidi Alexander is even said to have dramatically urged colleagues to form a 'Praetorian guard' around the Prime Minister in a grand reference to the elite personal bodyguards of the Roman Empire who were founded to guard the Emperor Augustus.One minister told today's The Times that the Prime Minister should learn from Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch's decisive action to sack Robert Jenrick this week as soon as she suspected him of treachery and 'bring Wes to heel'. Sir Keir Starmeris facing calls from cabinet ministers to sack Wes Streeting because rival factions are all jockeying for position to topple him as Prime Minister, it has been claimed Streeting was also 'unpopular' with some factions of the Labour party and the people who were briefing against him had their own agenda, insiders claimStarmer's allies point to Streeting's 'wild behaviour' and forthright public pronouncements which go beyond his departmental remit saying they are aimed at leading the agenda and magnifying his own voice.'What he's doing is so obvious. He is repeatedly breaching collective responsibility. He is attacking No 10, he is undermining all of us. The [parliamentary Labour Party] don't like what he is doing, they would back [the prime minister] if he acted,' one minister said.Another accused him of using his supporters from the 2024 intake of MPs cabinet 'to tell anyone who'll listen that it's time to get rid of Keir and make him PM instead'.'It's wild behaviour. If he doesn't bring it to a head, he'll have to be brought to heel,' they said.While another said Streeting, who celebrates his 43rd birthday next week, 'is exactly the same as when he was 18' and determined to become Prime Minister.'If he doesn't become Labour prime minister, he will tell himself his entire life has been a failure. Everything he's doing now is in pursuit of that aim. Has he been pushing the boundary of what's acceptable? Yes.'But Ms Cunliffe, associate political editor of the magazine which has been described as a publication 'of the left for the left', told the Radio 4 Today programme it now felt like a weekly occurrence that a member of the cabinet like Heidi Alexander called for 'the government to hold it together' at the start of the week and 'leave the psycho drama to the other side' but 'then by the end of the week there another anti Starmer briefing from his own team'.'This just speaks to the unpopularity of this government and the growing awareness within the Labour Party and the cabinet that some kind of change is needed but a lack of consensus about what that change or who that change could be,' she said. Last November, Streeting accused Starmer of presiding over a 'toxic culture' in Number 10. Pictured: The pair visited South West London Elective Orthopaedic Centre earlier this month'The way to view these briefings is that while the Prime Minister is unpopular, Wes Streeting is also unpopular within some factions of the Labour Party and - if you are looking at successions plans - there are other candidates available - and there are different factions of the Labour Party that are trying to position themselves so that their candidate is a front runner, shall we say, and trying to stamp on Wes Streeting's momentum and you have got to take that into context when you read these briefings.'A spokesman for Streeting slammed the latest briefing against him as 'incredibly stupid' when 'Reform and the Tories were at each other's throats right now' and claimed Streeting was 'delivering real change in the NHS and is out there making the case for Keir and for Labour'.They said: 'It's a real shame that Keir's so-called allies are briefing against Wes yet again, when they should be talking about the second biggest fall in waiting lists in 15 years and ambulances arriving 15 minutes faster with Labour.'However, it is an open secret that Streeting is a major threat to the Prime Minister. Only this week his opponents pointed to how he had gone a step further than the then official line on banning social media for under 16s, by coming out in favour of it.This week he also said the government needed to 'get it right first time' in the wake of a succession of humiliating U turns.Last November, he accused Starmer of presiding over a 'toxic culture' in Number 10 after allies of the prime minister briefed against him and just a month later he said the government risked presenting itself as the 'maintenance department for the country'.It was also reported today that the cabinet is split into three camps ahead of the local elections in May which are expected to be catastrophic for the government: the prime minister's loyal supporters, those who believe that only a change of leadership can save the government and a minority as yet keeping their cards close to their chest.One cabinet minister said after the meeting this week: 'These people wouldn't have been out of place on the bridge of the Titanic.'One Labour MP told The Times his fellow MPs were increasingly 'concerned that many of the cabinet don't appreciate how unpopular the government is and aren't doing anything to change course'.'The U turns this week have killed any post-Christmas optimism. While Keir is ultimately accountable for this, in the end the cabinet are collectively responsible. 'Too many of the cabinet are busy enjoying the trappings of ministerial life when they need to act and make sure our party has a future. History won't be kind to those who buried their heads in the sand.'A Number 10 source appeared to back Streeting, adding: 'Wes is doing a great job as health secretary, delivering an 86,000 cut in waiting lists this week. 'While other parties turn inwards, the Labour government is getting on with delivering national renewal and Wes is a key player in the team.'
