Labour MPs Press Starmer to Resign as Potential Successors Emerge

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer faces mounting pressure to resign, as his home secretary, several ministers and more than 80 Labour MPs urge him to step aside, if not right away then soon. Labour MPs lack agreement on a replacement leader for the party and the country.

Starmer told the cabinet on Tuesday that he would get on with governing and that no leadership contest had started.

No one has publicly declared a bid to replace him, but potential contenders have surfaced.

Wes Streeting has served as health secretary since Labour took power in 2024. He shadowed the role in opposition for three years before that and first won election to Parliament in 2015 after leading the National Union of Students and serving as a London councillor.

In his 2023 memoir, Streeting described growing up in a council flat in London's East End, visiting his bank robber grandfather in jail and coming of age as a gay Christian.

Colleagues view him as the cabinet's strongest communicator. He cites a drop in NHS waiting lists among his accomplishments. Streeting has acknowledged his leadership ambitions and draws backing from Labour MPs, especially those on the centre and right. His right-leaning profile might alienate party members, who lean left of the parliamentary group.

Andy Burnham commands solid support from Labour MPs and leads polls as the most popular Labour figure among voters. He has governed Greater Manchester as mayor for nearly a decade, earning the nickname King of the North.

Burnham makes no secret of his aim for the top job. He lacks a current seat in Parliament, though allies hope to fix that soon. Earlier this year, he sought Labour's nomination for the Gorton and Denton by-election but Sir Keir's allies on the party's national executive blocked him.

A return to Westminster would mark Burnham's second tour there. From 2001 to 2017, he represented Leigh and held senior posts in health and culture. The 52-year-old ran for party leader in 2010, losing to Ed Miliband, and in 2015, finishing second to Jeremy Corbyn.

His parliamentary backing comes largely from the left and MPs in the North West. Deputy Leader Lucy Powell and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy count as allies who would back a Burnham bid.

Angela Rayner served as deputy prime minister until last year, making her Britain's most powerful woman in politics at the time. She grew up poor, left school at 16 without qualifications and entered politics through a care worker job with the Unison union.

Elected in 2015 for Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester, she advanced fast in Westminster and joined Jeremy Corbyn's shadow cabinet. In government, Rayner became housing secretary, charged with boosting housebuilding and reforming renters' rights.

She resigned abruptly in 2025 after acknowledging insufficient tax payment on a new home purchase. Rayner retains strong Labour MP support, though her left-wing Greater Manchester base overlaps with Burnham's. An ongoing HMRC probe into the purchase could hinder a leadership run.

Party rules allow Starmer to compete in any leadership contest. On Monday, he told reporters he would stand if one began.