The Health Secretary was asked about his stated “desire” to be Prime Minister one day amid a Downing Street briefing warHealth Secretary Wes Streeting(Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)

The Health Secretary refused to confirm or deny whether he has ambitions for the Labour leadership or the top job as Prime Minister, amid speculation about a leadership challenge from him against Sir Keir Starmer.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting joked with delegates at the NHS Providers’ conference in Manchester, saying he wanted to ‘address the story in the news’.

He said: “I do want to address this leadership speculation upfront, because I know there is concern about how long the man in the top job has left.

“So, let me reassure everyone that I’m doing everything I can to persuade (NHS chief executive) Jim Mackey to stick around for as long as possible.”

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Mr Streeting told health leaders at the NHS Providers’ conference that the briefing about a potential leadership challenge to journalists overnight about the Labour leadership was “juvenile”.

He said: “The bizarre thing about some juvenile briefing overnight is that it’s people in Number 10 who’ve said the Prime Minister is fighting for his job.

“Now, I don’t think that’s firstly a helpful or constructive thing to say, and I also don’t think it’s true.”

Asked about his stated “desire” to be prime minister one day, Mr Streeting said he was enjoying his role as Health Secretary.

“I’m definitely not going to say anything today that adds to the silly season going on down south,” he said.

The Health Secretary declined to say whether he believed Downing Street chief of staff Morgan McSweeney was responsible for a “toxic” culture in No 10.

Mr Streeting said: “I am not going to add to the toxic culture by contributing to the toxic culture and going after individuals.

“I don’t think that is a constructive or positive thing to do.

“One thing I would say to Morgan McSweeney is there wouldn’t be a Labour Government without him.”

Earlier today, Wes Streeting referred to the recent BBC series Celebrity Traitors, as he described rumours of a plot to oust the Prime Minister as ‘the worst attack on a faithful since Joe Marler was kicked out’.

He categorically denied he was plotting to oust the Prime Minister, and insisted Sir Keir should sack the people who were behind the ‘self-defeating’ rumours.

The comments follow a flurry of late-night briefing from within Number 10 in which allies of the Prime Minister came out fighting on his behalf, amid fears his job could be under threat after the Budget in two weeks’ time.

Mr Streeting told the BBC’s Today programme that those responsible for the rumours did not follow the Prime Minister’s ‘model and style of leadership’.

The late-night briefing came as part of a ploy to put down several senior Labour figures who were said to be ‘on manoeuvres’ to supplant Sir Keir, according to media reports.

No 10 has singled out the Health Secretary to warn off other potential leadership challenges from senior Labour figures including Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, the reports said.

But another No 10 insider meanwhile praised Mr Streeting as a brilliant Health Secretary, and insisted the reports were all hypothetical speculation.

Mr Streeting said the briefings had ‘vindicated’ calls from Labour’s new deputy leader Lucy Powell for a change in ‘culture’ in Downing Street.