Sir Keir Starmer’s future as Britain’s prime minister remains on life support, amid mounting speculation he could face a leadership challenge as early as Thursday.
The United Kingdom’s Labour government has been feasting on itself since a series of diabolical local election results last week sparked panic among a swathe of MPs.
Sir Keir has faced growing calls from colleagues to step down since the weekend, although, thus far, no serious contenders have thrown their hats in the ring.
However, that could change on Thursday, local time, as expectations build that Health Secretary Wes Streeting will resign from the cabinet and announce he wants the PM’s job.
Sir Keir and Mr Streeting met briefly in London on Wednesday morning and the latter’s supporters have said they expect a challenge imminently.
Wes Streeting leaves his meeting at 10 Downing Street on Wednesday morning. (Reuters: Jaimi Joy)
The pair’s chat lasted less than 20 minutes, and details of the conversation have not been made public, although the fact they spoke at all was enough to send Westminster’s rumour mill into overdrive.
Later, Sir Keir’s official spokesperson told reporters the PM had “full confidence” in his health secretary.
By noon on Wednesday, the infighting engulfing Labour was paused — publicly at least — as King Charles III opened a new parliamentary session. In line with British tradition, the monarch outlined his government’s agenda for the months ahead.
It was reported earlier this week that the palace had been nervous about the controversy engulfing the government and had questioned whether the ceremony should proceed as planned.
The PM’s office writes the speech the king delivers, although this year, it’s not clear whether Sir Keir, or someone else, will be the one who eventually oversees delivering the policies.
Luke Akehurst, a Labour MP from northern England, told the ABC he was “extremely angry” about the attempts to oust his party’s leader, and urged Mr Streeting not to challenge.
“If he happens to be watching your channel, then I would urge him not to resign and to stay as part of the team with Keir Starmer to help to turn round the Labour Party’s fortunes rather than to cause a disruptive election,” Mr Akehurst said.
But Sir Keir has plenty of detractors within his own party.
Charlotte Nichols, MP for Warrington North, said the issues with the PM go “far deeper” than local election results.
“He does not have the domestic grip to drive forward even the popular policies he has put his own name to,” she told the ABC.
Ms Nichols said she and her colleagues had been told “time and again” that Sir Keir would make changes and “be bolder to meet the political moment our country finds itself in”.
“There are only so many times you can give him another chance, or more time and hope he can turn it around,” she said.
Australian-born MP’s plot to oust British PM
The prime minister was defiant at the dispatch box when debate began in parliament in the afternoon, and traded barbs with Opposition Leader Kemi Badenoch.
“Our parties both had tough results at the local elections last week,” Sir Keir told the House of Commons. “The difference is she hasn’t noticed.”
Meanwhile, Ms Badenoch smiled as she said Labour MPs “can’t wait to get back to their plotting”.
“They are so arrogant. They want to lead our country. They can’t even lead a coup,” she quipped.
Outside parliament, it was not hard to find criticisms. Conservative MP Alex Burghart told the ABC the Starmer government was “a pig’s breakfast”.
“It’s an absolute mess,” he said. “The prime minister has lost all of his authority and is clinging on to office, and that’s bad for the country.”
King Charles III reads his government’s agenda inside the Palace of Westminster on Wednesday. (Reuters: Chris Jackson)
Labour rules state prospective candidates need the support of at least 81 of the party’s MPs to be included on the ballot in a leadership challenge.
Several people within the government are known to have aspirations of holding the country’s top job.
Which one has the most support really depends on who you talk to.
Sir Keir stormed to power less than two years ago as his party won a massive majority in Britain’s 650-seat lower house.
However, analysts have pointed out that the result was likely more a reflection of how loathed the previous Conservative government was than of support for Labour.
Since the landslide victory, Sir Keir’s popularity has plummeted, and his government has been ridiculed, largely due to multiple policy backflips and scandals.
Another general election does not need to be held until the summer of 2029, although there is a growing consensus that the PM could be replaced long before then.
Sir Keir has been telling supporters he would run against Mr Streeting, rather than resign, if challenged.
Who could challenge for Labour’s leadership?Wes Streeting
High-profile candidate with a big problem.
Wes Streeting, 43, is described by some analysts as the most ready for the prime ministership among potential contenders to replace Sir Keir.
He’s been a member of parliament since 2015, previously served as a London councillor, and worked in not-for-profits before entering politics.
Mr Streeting has many supporters from the right of the party and was made health secretary after Labour won the 2024 general election.
He has been successful in lowering waiting lists for hospital treatments. He is considered a good communicator; however, he is not universally liked.
Mr Streeting has a long, close association with Labour Party heavyweight Lord Peter Mandelson, who was sacked as the UK’s ambassador to the US last year over his links to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
That scandal has weighed heavily on Sir Keir, and Mr Streeting’s critics contend he will struggle to distance himself from Lord Mandelson too.
Mr Streeting grew up on a council estate in East London and was the first person from his family to graduate from university, when he read history at Cambridge.
He would, if elected Labour leader, become the UK’s first gay prime minister.
Mr Streeting is expected to resign from the cabinet and announce his candidacy imminently.
— Europe bureau chief Mazoe Ford
Angela Rayner
Divisive former deputy PM from Labour’s left.
Angela Rayner is among Labour’s most high-profile leadership prospects, although she is often described as divisive.
She was first elected to the House of Commons in 2015, and just five years later, she made her mark on the party. Rayner, 46, became deputy Labour leader in 2020.
When the party won the 2024 general election, she became the UK’s deputy prime minister as well.
She was initially appointed as housing, communities and local government secretary in Sir Keir’s government; however, she resigned and went to the back benches amid an investigation into her personal tax affairs, which has not yet been finalised.
Ms Rayner has previously described herself as a socialist and has significant support among MPs. Her constituency of Ashton-under-Lyne is in Greater Manchester.
She has given multiple speeches critical of the Labour government since leaving cabinet; however, she has yet to announce her candidacy in any potential leadership election.
— Riley Stuart
Andy Burnham
Popular choice with no seat in parliament.
Andy Burnham once described speculation about his leadership ambitions as “annoying”, but the mayor of Manchester has long been touted as a future Labour prime minister.
Born into a working-class family in the north of England, Mr Burnham joined the Labour Party when he was 15 and has been working his way up its ranks ever since.
The Cambridge-educated Mr Burnham became an MP in 2001 and a cabinet secretary in Gordon Brown’s government.
He made an unsuccessful tilt at the Labour leadership after the party lost the general elections of 2010 and 2015, but by 2017, he had left national politics to run for the mayor of Manchester.
He enjoys significant support in the city and was given the moniker “king of the north” by the local press.
He identifies as an “aspirational socialist” but is perhaps as political as he is ideological.
At the 2015 Labour leadership election, he appeared to soften his leftist politics by declaring “the entrepreneur should be as much of a hero as the nurse”.
Mr Burnham has huge support in Westminster but faces a challenging path to becoming PM.
If he wants the keys to Number 10, he will have to re-enter the House of Commons, which would be dependent on a Labour MP in a safe seat agreeing to stand down.
He’d then have to win a by-election, be sworn in and then formulate and win a leadership challenge. It’s a process that could take several months.
— Europe correspondent Elias Clure
Ed Miliband
Former leader who lost the 2015 election.
Another possible contender is Energy Secretary Ed Miliband.
The 56-year-old has spent more than two decades in politics, and if he does take over, it would not be his first turn as Labour leader.
He followed his older brother, David, into politics and was elected to the House of Commons in 2005.
Within three years, then-PM Gordon Brown appointed him Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.
When Mr Brown resigned after Labour lost the 2010 election, Mr Miliband beat his brother in the ensuing leadership challenge, declaring that “the era of Blair and Brown is over”.
But the era of Prime Minister Miliband was not to be. Labour was defeated in the 2015 election, and the father of two resigned as leader.
Now, more than 10 years on, the self-confessed maths geek may have the numbers to give it another shot.
Although he was appointed to Sir Keir’s cabinet soon after the 2024 election, he has become increasingly critical of the government following the Mandelson scandal.
Mr Miliband is seen as one of the most experienced contenders, but his failed 2015 election may continue to hold him back.
Supporters have said Mr Miliband would throw his hat in the ring if Mr Streeting announced a challenge.
— Syan Vallance
Shabana Mahmood
Highly rated outsider on the party’s right.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s name is regularly mentioned as a possible future leader of the Labour Party and as a future prime minister.
Elected to a seat in Birmingham in 2010, the 45-year-old is part of Labour’s more conservative right faction.
She was born in the city to British-Pakistani parents and attended Oxford University, where she studied law.
When Labour won the 2024 general election, Ms Mahmood became the first Muslim woman to be appointed Lord Chancellor — a position similar to Australia’s Special Minister of State.
Since becoming home secretary in September 2025, she has overseen a tightening of immigration policy and introduced laws restricting protests.
She was among the first of Sir Keir’s cabinet members to have urged him to consider his position in May.
However, she has yet to confirm whether she would contest a potential leadership election.
— Nick Parmeter
Al Carns
Former Marine and a long shot for leadership.
Minister for Veterans and Armed Services Al Carns is an outside chance for the top job.
Carns enlisted as a Royal Marine commando in 1999 and served five tours of Afghanistan.
The former special forces colonel was awarded the Military Cross in 2011 and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2022, among a long list of other military honours.
The 46-year-old was a military adviser to three defence secretaries at the Ministry of Defence, and despite speculation he might be promoted to chief of defence, he quit the military in 2024 to run for the Labour Party in the general election.
Mr Carns was appointed Minister for Veterans soon after his successful bid for office, and Minister for the Armed Forces in September 2025 — three months after climbing Mount Everest in less than a week.
It remains to be seen whether he will attempt to scale the highest peak of UK politics, although supporters have said he is “preparing” a leadership bid.
— Syan Vallance