Wes Streeting has confirmed he will be standing for Labour leader in a future leadership contest, just days… The post Wes Streeting confirms he will stand for Labour leader in future contest appeared first on LabourList.
Wes Streeting has confirmed he will be standing for Labour leader in a future leadership contest, just days after quitting as health secretary.
“We need a proper contest with the best candidates on the field and I’ll be standing,” the former Cabinet minister told the Progress conference in London, after giving a speech to party members.
Streeting’s speech was his first public appearance since he quit Keir Starmer’s Cabinet on Thursday and called for a change of leader.
Streeting’s commitment to run in a future contest came despite speculation this week that the Ilford North MP had failed to garner 81 parliamentary party supporters to trigger a contest against Starmer.
Taking questions from the media, Streeting said: “I do have support in the parliamentary party. But this week I also had a choice. We could have rushed straight into a leadership contest, knowing not all of the candidates would be on the pitch.
Around 150 people attended the conference in London, which saw MPs, councillors and campaigners reflect on the party’s poor performance in the local and devolved election results last week.
It also came after a week that saw close to 100 MPs for Keir Starmer to resign or announce a timetable for his resignation, with Labour now seemingly on the brink of a leadership contest if Andy Burnham can win the upcoming Makerfield by-election and return to the House of Commons.
He said that a contest without Burnham would mean any new leader would “lack legitimacy and we would end up extending instability and uncertainty”.
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“If you think you are good enough to do the top job, if you think you’ve got the right ideas for the country, you should be prepared to put them forward, test them against other competitors and win an election.”
Party officers on the national executive committee voted on Friday by a majority to allow Burnham to stand in the Greater Manchester contest, which was triggered by the resignation of MP Josh Simons.
Streeting could face an uphill battle to win the support of members, even if he wins the backing of Labour MPs. Exclusive polling by LabourList suggests that Streeting would lose a direct contest against Burnham, Angela Rayner, Ed Miliband and Lucy Powell.
The ex-minister said he had faced a choice this week. “Do I pull more ministers out of the government and cause more disruption? Or do we do this in the right way, ask the prime minister to set out a proper leadership timetable and give his ministers the freedom to nominate whoever they want to see as leader of our party and prime minister of our country?”
“That’s what I think he should still do.”
Streeting said that voters had sent a clear message to the party in the local and regional elections. “It would be good for the Labour Party to show that we have noticed.”
“There is no virtue, no principle, in going a bit faster off the same cliff.”
He also committed to knocking on doors in Makerfield in the coming weeks, on behalf of Burnham.
A battle of ideas over the coming weeks, Streeting said, could leave Labour stronger and in a better position to face the twin threats of Reform and the Greens.
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The former minister was highly critical of his party’s record in recent years, both in opposition and in government.
“We haven’t had a debate in the Labour Party about who and what we’re for in more than a decade,” he said.
“The moral emergency of antisemitism in our party left little room for intellectual renewal or policy debate on the centre left.
“We then had a dishonest leadership contest, followed by an overcautiousness in opposition. Interesting policy ideas couldn’t be floated because we were too afraid of what the Tories might say, so we said nothing. Instead of a willingness to challenge ideas and kick the tyres, debate was viewed as division and shut down.”
He told the conference that Labour arrived in government “underprepared in too many areas and lacking clarity of vision and direction”
“Questions which had gone unanswered in opposition couldn’t be ignored in office, leading to the early catastrophe of the winter fuel cut.”
Streeting won multiple rounds of applause during the speech, which saw him emerge as the first leadership contender to officially announce a candidacy. Starmer has given no indication that he plans to step down, or whether he would contest a leadership race.
The speech saw Streeting call the Brexit vote in 2016 “catastrophic” and called for a “new special relationship” with Brussels, that might see the UK “one day, one day, back in the European Union”.
He also called for Labour to take on the “tech broligarchs”
Streeting also sought to address concerns that his razor-thin 2024 general election majority could discount his candidacy for leader, telling the conference his area had weathered better some of the losses seen elsewhere in London.
“I know how to win, whether our opponents position themselves to our right or whether they position themselves to our left
“My warning to the party is, don’t get dragged off by the siren voices who say to win the next general election, we need to try and out Reform Reform or out Green the Greens. We will win the next general election by being Labour.”
Earlier, Business Secretary Peter Kyle had heaped praise on his “legendary” and “courageous” friend during a speech to the conference, calling him a “talent much-needed by this party.”
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The post Wes Streeting confirms he will stand for Labour leader in future contest appeared first on LabourList.
