LONDON: Britain&#39;s health minister Wes Streeting announced on Thursday that he had resigned, paving the way for him to launch a leadership challenge&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/british-pm-battles-to-stay-in-power-amid-rebellion" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">against embattled Prime Minister Keir Starmer.</a> In his resignation letter to Starmer, which Streeting posted on X, he said: &quot;It is now clear that you will not lead the Labour Party into the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/possible-contenders-if-uk-pm-starmer-quits" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">next general election</a>&quot;. He added that he had &quot;lost confidence&quot; in Starmer&#39;s leadership, and a debate about what comes next for the ruling party &quot;needs to be broad, and it needs to be the best possible field of candidates&quot;. Streeting, 43, did not say whether he had the required support of 81 Labour MPs &ndash; 20% of the party in parliament &ndash; to trigger a contest. Starmer, who led his&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/pressure-grows-on-uks-starmer-to-quit-as-pm" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Labour Party</a>&nbsp;to victory in 2024 elections ending 14 years of Conservative rule, is fighting to save his job after disastrous local and regional polls last week. Four junior ministers have resigned and more than 80 Labour MPs have urged him to quit, but he has vowed to cling on and more than 100 lawmakers from the ruling party have called for him to stay. On Thursday, his former deputy Angela Rayner announced that UK tax authorities had &quot;cleared&quot; her of deliberate wrongdoing in a tax affair, opening the way for her to compete in a potential leadership race. The 46-year-old insisted she would not be the one to trigger a contest, but told the Guardian newspaper she would play &quot;whatever role I can&quot; to &quot;deliver the change&quot;. Rayner, a left-wing figurehead hugely popular among Labour&#39;s grassroots activists, also called on Starmer to &quot;reflect&quot; on his position. She was forced to step down in September for underpaying a property duty, but said on Thursday the UK tax authority HMRC had exonerated her of &quot;the accusation that I deliberately sought to avoid tax&quot;. Rayner quit as deputy PM and housing, communities and local government minister after an investigation found she had breached the ministerial code over the purchase of a flat in southern England. Media reported she had paid off &pound;40,000 ($54,000) in outstanding tax. Local poll drubbing Streeting is popular on the right of Labour, but is disliked by MPs on the left who would prefer Rayner or Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham as leader. Burnham is currently blocked from running as he does not have a seat in the Westminster parliament. His supporters want Starmer to set a detailed timetable for his departure that allows Burnham to stand. Starmer&#39;s spokesman insisted Thursday that the prime minister was going nowhere. He &quot;is purely focused on governing. He is getting on with the job of doing just that,&quot; the spokesman told reporters. Voters last week punished Starmer over his 22 months in power in local ballots which saw huge gains for the hard-right Reform UK party and the left-wing populist Greens at Labour&#39;s expense. The Labour Party lost control of the devolved Welsh parliament for the first time and failed to make up ground on the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) in the parliament in Edinburgh. Rayner earlier stopped short of calling for Starmer to resign, but said voters were frustrated with the way the government was being run. Starmer has vowed to fight any contest and came out fighting on Monday, pledging to do better and prove his doubters &quot;wrong&quot;. He has been backed by several senior cabinet ministers, including Finance Minister Rachel Reeves, who urged colleagues Thursday not to put the economy &quot;at risk&quot; by &quot;plunging the country into chaos&quot; with a leadership challenge.

Britain's Health Secretary Wes Streeting (L) listens as Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech on a plan to reduce NHS waiting times, during a visit to the South West London Elective Orthopaedic Centre (SWLEOC) in Epsom, south-west of Lon

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Resignation adds to pressure within the Labour Party as internal divisions deepen, with senior figures questioning leadership direction following recent political setbacks and growing uncertainty over party unity and stability.

UK health minister quits amid leadership challenge to Prime Minister Starmer

LONDON: As pressure grows on UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to stand down, discussion centers on his potential successor as leader of the ruling Labour party.&nbsp;The winner of any leadership race will be decided by the party&#39;s members, not the general public. None of the possible candidates is universally popular in the party, however.&nbsp;Wes StreetingThe 43-year-old health minister has long been rumoured as a possible contender and many MPs urging Starmer to leave are his supporters.&nbsp;Streeting, whose full name is Wesley, was one of the most visible Labour figures during the 2024 election campaign and hailed as one of its best communicators.&nbsp;Seen as on the right of the Labour party, he has praised former prime minister Tony Blair and spoken of his desire to lead the party.&nbsp;He comes from a working-class background in east London. Both his parents were teenagers when he was born. He grew up in a flat on a municipal housing estate he has described as &quot;grim&quot; and attended state school.&nbsp;He has talked about his grandfather being an armed robber who knew notorious London gangsters the Kray Brothers.&nbsp;After studying at the University of Cambridge, he was elected an MP in 2015. As health minister he has criticized striking medics.&nbsp;He is openly gay, his partner is a communications adviser.&nbsp;In a potentially damaging connection, Streeting initially defended Labour grandee Peter Mandelson when he was sacked as US ambassador over his association with the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.&nbsp;Streeting has denied being close friends with Mandelson.&nbsp;Angela RaynerFormer deputy prime minister Angela Rayner is well-liked among Labour&#39;s left-wing base and known for her straight-talking style.&nbsp;She issued a warning to Starmer prior to a crucial speech on Monday that many commentators said was underwhelming.&nbsp;The Guardian cited supporters as saying she was not set on being a candidate, but prepared for the possibility of a leadership run.&nbsp;The 46-year-old is an outlier in a country long dominated by a ruling class disproportionately educated at private schools and Oxford and Cambridge universities.&nbsp;She grew up in social housing in northern England, left school without a degree and became a single mother at 16.&nbsp;A trade unionist before being elected to parliament in 2015, she was elected as Labour&#39;s number two in 2020.&nbsp;YouGov polling agency ranked her the second most popular Labour politician after regional mayor Andy Burnham, also a potential challenger.&nbsp;An outstanding case over her tax affairs, which triggered her resignation last year, could hamper her chances, however.&nbsp;Rayner has three children. One of her sons has a serious disability.&nbsp;Andy BurnhamPopular regional mayor Andy Burnham has also long been seen as a potential rival to Starmer, although he has twice unsuccessfully stood for leader.&nbsp;The long-standing Labour politician, seen as representing its &quot;soft left&quot;, became an MP in 2001.&nbsp;He served a stint as minister for health under Gordon Brown before leaving parliament in 2017 to become mayor of Greater Manchester in northern England, where he has gained the nickname &quot;king of the North&quot;.&nbsp;The 56-year-old has twice been re-elected mayor, most recently in 2024 and has said that he does not identify as a Westminster insider.&nbsp;Burnham grew up in northern England and joined the Labour Party as a teenager before studying at the University of Cambridge.&nbsp;While an MP, he lost leadership races against Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn.&nbsp;He has openly opposed Starmer over welfare cuts and warned of a &quot;climate of fear&quot; in the party.&nbsp;Burnham could not immediately become leader because he would first need to become an MP by winning a by-election.&nbsp;The Labour party in January blocked Burnham from standing in an upcoming by-election, after he wrote about wanting to do so on X.&nbsp;Burnham has a Dutch-born wife and three children and told Huffington Post that he is &quot;Catholic by upbringing&quot; but &quot;not particularly religious now&quot;.&nbsp;Other possibilitiesWith a wide field of possible candidates, other potential choices could be existing ministers, who could take on the leadership as a &quot;caretaker&quot; role.&nbsp;Those under discussion include foreign minister Yvette Cooper, defense minister John Healey, energy minister Ed Miliband and a junior armed forces minister Al Carns.&nbsp;Miliband served as leader of the Labour Party in opposition after standing in a race against his own brother, David. He resigned after the party suffered a severe defeat in the 2015 election.&nbsp;An MP since 1997, Cooper, 57, has served as a minister under Starmer and Brown.&nbsp;Like Cooper an MP since 1997, Healey, 57, became defense minister under Starmer.&nbsp;Carns, a 46-year-old former commando, became an MP in 2024. The Independent wrote he is seen by some MPs &quot;as a leftfield candidate&quot;.

If UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer resigns, senior Labour ministers and prominent party figures are expected to compete for the leadership. The next leader would be chosen by Labour Party members rather than the general public.

Articles tagged with "Wes Streeting"

UK health minister quits amid leadership challenge to Prime Minister Starmer

Possible contenders if UK PM Starmer quits