Downing Street warn plotting ministers that Starmer will fight attempted coup
Downing Street is preparing to defend the prime minister against any attempt to oust him in a coup, with a number of ministers suggested as possible successors.
Sir Keir Starmer has been dogged by rumors for months that he could be replaced as Labor continues to slip in the polls under his leadership.
Sources have claimed Health Secretary Wes Streeting is moving to replace Sir Keir and loyalists in No 10 fear the prime minister’s job could be under threat.
The health minister, who will go on a morning media tour on behalf of the government on Wednesday, denied the allegations, but it is said that there are other names in the frame.
A senior figure said: Independent It is stated that the highly respected defense minister John Healey has been put forward as the “continuity candidate” and “safe hands”.
Meanwhile, interior minister Shabana Mahmood is another name in contention; The left of the party wants former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner to return or energy minister Ed Miliband to step into the leadership for a second time.
Speculation over the future of the Prime Minister’s Labor Party has seen it fall to fifth place behind the Greens in a poll. The party, which quickly lost support after winning the election, could not recover. While it currently averages less than 20 per cent in the polls, Reform UK is polling over 30 per cent.
Dissatisfaction with Labour’s attempts to cut the welfare bill, foot-dragging on child benefit and an attempt to scrap winter fuel payments for more than 10 million pensioners has sparked a backlash in the party, with a major revolt from MPs just before the summer.
This resulted in sacked cabinet minister Lucy Powell winning the deputy leadership contest in a campaign in which she fiercely criticized the leadership under Sir Keir.
A senior party figure said: “A lot of names are being discussed. John Healey has come up a lot in the last week but we know Shabana Mahmood is looking at the top job. Wes [Streeting] “Still, he is definitely maneuvering.”
An ally of Ms Rayner said it was “perhaps too early” for a leadership bid this side of Christmas after she was forced to resign because she could not pay stamp duty on her Brighton flat, but did not rule out she “might still try”.
A Downing Street source said initial reports of a possible coup had been “overwritten”.
They added: “Would the Prime Minister take up a challenge? Of course. Would any challenge be irresponsible? Yes. But this is all purely hypothetical. Wes is an excellent health minister.”
A spokesman for Mr Streeting said claims he was planning to replace Sir Keir were “categorically untrue”.
He added: “Wes’s focus was entirely on reducing waiting lists for the first time in 15 years, recruiting 2,500 more GPs and rebuilding the NHS that saved his life.”
But Sir Keir’s biographer questioned the logic of those briefing from the corridors of power.
Tom Baldwin, a former journalist known to be close to the Prime Minister, wrote on social media: “I cannot understand why anyone would think a briefing of this nature would help Keir Starmer, the government or even his own cause.
“I guess some people can’t resist, but it’s all a little crazy.”
