What to know about contenders who could replace Keir Starmer as Britain’s Labour leader

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s leadership is shaky after Labor suffered heavy defeats in last week’s local elections.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting became the first Cabinet member to resign on Thursday, but did not immediately launch his widely anticipated bid to oust Starmer.

Election defeat could be the final straw for a leader already tarnished by his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as Britain’s ambassador to Washington despite the veteran politician’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

More than 90 Labor MPs called for Starmer to resign to make way for a contest to choose a new leader to take over as prime minister, and several junior ministers resigned.

Starmer insisted he was staying put and a formal leadership challenge has yet to be launched.

While there’s no clear frontrunner to replace Starmer, here are some of the leading contenders for the top job:

Wes Street

Wes Streeting, 43, is widely regarded as one of the government’s best communicators and has led the way in improving the creaking NHS, delivering on one of the government’s most important promises.

This mission was personal. The NHS saved his life when he developed kidney cancer and Streeting said he would repay it by saving the health service.

Streeting, who was elected as an MP in 2015, has long been thought to have his eye on the top post, but has vehemently denied that he plans to replace Starmer.

He chronicled his rise from his roots in London’s working-class East End, where he grew up in public housing, in his memoir “One Boy, Two Bills and a Fry Up: A Memoir of Growing and Getting On.” The title refers to two grandfathers, both named Bill: the one on his mother’s side was connected to gangsters and served a prison sentence for armed robbery; He believes that it was his father who guided him on the path to Cambridge University.

Streeting entered politics at a young age, leading the Cambridge students’ union and becoming president of the National Union of Students.

He later worked for the LGBT group Stonewall and spoke about his struggle to come out as gay and reconcile his sexuality with his Anglican faith.

Angela Rayner

Former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has long distinguished herself as a politician of a different kind with her compelling personal story. She grew up in social housing and left school at 16 as a young mother.

Rayner, 46, was active in unions and on the left of the party before being elected as an MP in 2015. He soon rose to the senior ranks of the Labor Party while the party was in opposition and was elected deputy leader in 2020.

Rayner has significant support within the party but was forced to resign from the government last year after admitting he had not paid enough tax on a house purchase. He announced on Thursday that he had discussed the issue with tax authorities, which appeared to herald a possible leadership struggle.

Following the fallout over the Epstein files’ revelations about Mandelson, Rayner led a rebellion by MPs to force the government to hand over control to Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee to decide which documents should be made public.

Andy Burnham

Former Cabinet minister Andy Burnham, the popular centre-left Greater Manchester mayor, has long been seen as a potential rival to Starmer. But his leadership hopes faded after Labor blocked him from becoming the party’s Parliamentary candidate in a special election in February.

According to long-standing convention, the prime minister must be a member of Parliament. Burnham’s supporters support delaying the leadership contest, which would give her time to return to the House of Commons through a special election.

Burnham, 56, has held senior positions in previous Labor governments, including culture secretary and health minister.

Ed Miliband

Energy Minister Ed Miliband is a former Labor leader, but his five years at the top of the party in opposition resulted in the party’s 2015 election defeat. Miliband, 56, has publicly downplayed his desire to return to work but he is one of the most experienced members of the Cabinet.

Shabana Mahmood

Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood, 45, has one of the toughest jobs in government; to control immigration, law and order. He has become a favorite of many on the Labor right with his moves to tighten border controls and curb unauthorized immigration.

Al Carns

The former Royal Marine, who served with distinction in Afghanistan, serves as armed forces minister in Starmer’s Labor government and has seen his stock in the party rise since he was first elected to Parliament in Labour’s landslide election victory in 2024.

Carns, 46, has a fascinating personal story that could attract support across different factions within the Labor Party. In addition to his distinguished service in Afghanistan, where he was awarded the Military Cross in 2011, Carns was born to a single mother into a working-class family in the Scottish oil town of Aberdeen.

“We don’t need any more slogans, strategies, press releases or commissions,” Carns said in an article published in The New Statesman magazine on Thursday. “We need action.”

Lack of experience can be a weakness. Replacing a leader who has been criticized for his lack of political understanding with a relative newcomer can be risky, no matter how interesting his background.

___

Jill Lawless, Pan Pylas and Brian Melley contributed.