Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting are both running thinly veiled campaigns for the top job after Keir Starmer’s authority was battered by Labour’s local elections losses
One of Keir Starmer’s top allies has warned Labour against playing “fantasy politics” as the Prime Minister’s rivals position themselves to take him on.
Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting are both running thinly veiled campaigns for the top job after Mr Starmer’s authority was battered by Labour‘s local elections losses. Dozens of MPs called for him to quit, and a string of ministers resigned – but Mr Starmer dug in, insisting he won’t walk away from Downing Street.
Darren Jones, the Chief Secretary to the PM, told MPs there was no “magic answer” to fix the country’s problems. He told the BBC: “There’s a lot of fantasy politics going on right now inside the Labour Party…in terms of who is up, who is down, who will be in what position.”
He admitted Labour needed to thrash out the way forward after its local election hammering but said the party must not get distracted. He went on: “Irrespective of individual ambitions from any of my colleagues, the big questions the country faces are still the big questions the country faces. There’s no magic answer to any of them, because if there was, we would have implemented it.”
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Former Labour Home Secretary Alan Johnson said “there is no case whatsoever for Keir Starmer to go now,” adding: “If Labour MPs decided to back an opponent to him, I would be very surprised.”
Asked if Mr Burnham should stand against the Prime Minister in a leadership contest, Mr Johnson told Radio 4’s Broadcasting House: “Absolutely not. But if Labour MPs are daft enough to give their support to that, they deserve everything that’s coming to them.”
He added: “You’re replacing a leader with someone who would then walk straight into No10. The difficult job is becoming the leader of a party in opposition and leading it back into government.
“I didn’t see Andy Burnham about when that was the job in 2019. I didn’t see Wes Streeting around. Keir Starmer took on that job and took us back into government.”
The Labour grandee said a snap election should be called if Mr Burnham became Prime Minister.
It comes after Greater Manchester Mayor launched his by-election campaign on Friday, telling voters in Makerfield that backing him is “a vote to change Labour”. He added: “I know my own party needs to change. We need to be better than we have been.”
Meanwhile, former Health Secretary Wes Streeting told the Mirror he would implement a wealth tax to bring back the New Labour-era Sure Start programme, as he sets out his stall for a potential leadership race.