‘Wes Streeting doesn’t have the numbers to challenge the PM’, says cabinet minister

A cabinet minister has said that Wes Streeting does not have the required number of MPs to challenge Keir Starmer in a leadership race, as Downing Street became increasingly confident of its position.

After a tumultuous few days in Westminster which saw more than 80 Labour MPs call for the Prime Minister to resign or set out a timetable for his departure following a disappointing set of local election results for the Labour Party last week, Keir Starmer insisted he was going nowhere and dared any leadership hopeful to launch a direct challenge against him.

While more than 20% of Labour MPs may have called for Starmer to go, under the Labour Party’s leadership rules a leadership challenge is triggered if they unite behind a single candidate.

At yesterday’s cabinet meeting, it was reported that no cabinet minister directly challenged Starmer, with some said to be favouring a return for Andy Burnham to Parliament before launching a bid.

The Prime Minister has insisted he will prove his doubters wrong, and yesterday more than 100 backbench MPs wrote a letter in support of Starmer, saying now was no time for a leadership contest.

Streeting arrived in Downing Street this morning for crunch talks with Starmer, leaving after just 19 minutes.

Following his meeting, Cabinet Office minister and Starmer loyalist Nick Thomas-Symonds said that Streeting doesn’t have the numbers to challenge the PM.

“The evidence of the last two days is there isn’t an alternative candidate with those 81 names”, he said.