Comment: Has Wes Streeting got the bottle to challenge Keir Starmer? Having demanded an audience with the embattled prime minister, the health secretary – and his would-be political assassin – left Downing Street after a 20-minute 'brief encounter', says Simon Walters.
Wednesday 13 May 2026 09:43 BST. Health secretary leaves No10 after showdown talks with Starmer.
There was only one matter to be decided at today's Downing Street showdown between Keir Starmer and Wes Streeting. Did the health secretary tell the prime minister he is going to mount a challenge to replace him in No 10? Or did Streeting prove to be a 'bottler', the word Starmer's supporters were using yesterday to describe his would-be political assassin?
Both men were keeping schtum immediately after their brief, 20-minute encounter. The stakes could not be higher for both men. Starmer is clinging to power by his fingertips after Labour's drubbing in the town hall elections. And this could be Streeting's only chance to win a Labour leadership contest.
His chief rival, Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, is far more popular with Labour supporters and would almost certainly win in a straight fight with Streeting. But Burnham has one major problem: he is not currently an MP and so cannot stand if Starmer steps down. That could change soon, with reports that Burnham hopes to find a Labour MP willing to sacrifice their seat in favour of him. But it would be months before Burnham entered the Commons, even assuming he won the necessary by-election, not a guaranteed outcome given Labour's dismal standing in the polls.
It means that, right now, there is a window for Streeting. But he faces key questions: does he have the support of 81 Labour MPs – one-fifth of the parliamentary party – needed to trigger a leadership contest as required by the party's rules? And most crucial of all, does he have the courage to go for it? Or did Starmer face him down today, as he did at yesterday's cabinet meeting when he outmanoeuvred Streeting and his other cabinet critics by boldly announcing at the outset he was carrying on?
Starmer's supporters are convinced Streeting's camp have been plotting to oust him for months. They claim it is no coincidence that three of the four junior ministers to resign yesterday had close links to Streeting. One of them, health minister Zubir Ahmed, did little in an interview today to conceal his hope that Streeting would take over as prime minister. Streeting was a 'generationally talented politician – there is no denying that', said Ahmed. But Ahmed, a distinguished surgeon in his professional life, also had a clear message for Streeting. Asked by the BBC if he should tell the PM 'I'm sorry, you need to quit and let me have a run at the top job', Ahmed replied: 'People who are articulating their dissatisfaction with the Prime Minister in private have a responsibility to say that in public and directly to him because the situation is unsustainable and unstable.' To put it another way, Streeting's own supporters are telling him he must not bottle it.
