Streeting quit the government Thursday with a withering assessment of Starmer’s leadership, but no other senior minister followed suit and the 43-year-old MP did not immediately trigger a leadership contest.
Later that day, Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham unveiled a bid to become an MP which, if successful, would allow him to stand in that contest.
While still not announcing he has kick-started the formal leadership challenge process, Streeting confirmed he will vie to replace Starmer and become the centre-left Labour’s new leader.
Whoever leads the ruling party, which has a big majority in Britain’s parliament, will by default become prime minister.
“We need a proper contest with the best candidates on the field, and I’ll be standing,” Streeting said Saturday in a speech and question-and-answer session at a think tank event in London.
Explaining the lack of a formal contest launch, Streeting – from Labour’s right wing and long thought to covet the premiership – said he wanted “all of the candidates… on the pitch”.
“If we had rushed ahead without giving Andy a chance to stand, the new leader, whether it was me or anyone else, would lack legitimacy.”
A Labour party leadership contest can be triggered if 81 of its MPs – 20% of the party in parliament – formally back a candidate to challenge Starmer and submit the necessary paperwork.
Starmer, as current leader, would automatically be on the ballot if he wanted to defend the challenge.
Labour members and affiliates then get to vote, not just MPs. They rank candidates in order of preference and a contender needs 50% to win.
Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) – which selects the party’s candidates – said Friday it had permitted Burnham “to stand in the candidate selection process” in the by-election in Makerfield, northwest England.
That contest is expected in mid-June at the earliest, meaning any formal leadership challenge is likely to be triggered afterwards.
The political jockeying follows dismal results for Labour in local and regional elections held last week, which have prompted several junior ministers and dozens of the party’s MPs to demand Starmer step down.