politics
Wes Streeting Resigns from Government as Andy Burnham Eyes Return to Parliament via By-Election
Wes Streeting has resigned from government to prepare a leadership bid while Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, found an MP willing to vacate the Makerfield seat for a by-election. The developments accelerate a likely summer contest to replace Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. BBC News reported the moves come amid pressing domestic and international decisions facing the UK government.
May 16, 6:01 AM·2m read1 source
leftfootforward.orgAudio version
Tap play to generate a narrated version.
Developing·Limited corroboration so far. This page will refresh as more sources emerge.
Wes Streeting has quit government to prepare for a run at the top job, BBC News reported. Streeting's team says he has the numbers to challenge while Team Starmer says Wes Streeting does not have the numbers. The discovery that Andy Burnham had found an MP willing to give up their seat so he can take a crack at becoming an MP again occurred on Thursday morning.
Andy Burnham is the mayor of Greater Manchester. The Makerfield seat is the constituency Andy Burnham is attempting to win in a by-election. Reform will contest the Makerfield by-election. If Burnham wins the by-election, one minister said he and Streeting should find an "accommodation" to avoid what could be a "catastrophic" leadership contest.
Another senior figure predicts no-one would even stand against Burnham because he has so much momentum, "he'll be carried south for a coronation". A leadership contest seems likely over the summer, and a new leader and prime minister by the party conference in late September.
One cabinet minister told Laura Kuenssberg that the public are pretty horrified that Labour is tumbling into replacing its leader.
Another minister reckons the public's message from the ballot boxes last week just had to be respected. " One of Starmer's allies joked that his way of operating is to arrive at the right decision in the slowest and most painful way possible. " Sir Keir Starmer is the current prime minister.
The current date in the article's context is 2026. Keir Starmer visited a police station on Friday before the planned protests this weekend. Even as the leadership drama unfolds, the UK along with France is trying to build an international coalition to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz again, with about 40 other countries.
