{"id":965762,"date":"2026-05-17T02:51:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T02:51:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/965762\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T02:51:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T02:51:10","slug":"wes-streeting-warns-labour-will-be-the-handmaidens-of-nigel-farage-and-the-breakup-of-the-united-kingdom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/965762\/","title":{"rendered":"Wes Streeting warns Labour will be ‘the handmaidens of Nigel Farage and the breakup of the United Kingdom’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mr Streeting resigned from his post in the Cabinet earlier this week in a dramatic departure to pave the way to enter Number 10<\/p>\n

Want LBC stories before everyone else? Set us as your Preferred Source on Google<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Mr<\/p>\n

Mr Streeting said he will stand to replace Sir Keir Starmer if a leadership contest is triggered.<\/p>\n

Picture:
\nAlamy<\/p>\n

\n

By Rebecca Henrys and Alex Storey<\/p>\n

Wes Streeting has confirmed he will stand in any future Labour leadership contest to replace Sir Keir Starmer in his first public appearance since resigning as health secretary.<\/p>\n

Mr Streeting announced on Saturday that he would launch his own bid to stand as Prime Minister, should a Labour leadership contest to replace Sir Keir be triggered. <\/p>\n

“We need a proper contest with the best candidates on the field, and I\u2019ll be standing,\u201d he told reporters at a conference in central London.<\/p>\n

Mr Streeting, who this week stood down as health secretary, also insisted he did have enough support among MPs to trigger a contest, but suggested his challenge would “lack legitimacy” without rival Andy Burnham being given a chance to return to Parliament.<\/p>\n

It comes after Mr Burnham claimed he is only focused on winning a seat in Parliament, rather than ousting Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Greater Manchester Mayor is among a group of senior Labour figures seen to be jostling to replace Sir Keir, as well as former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the Progress think tank conference on Saturday, Mr Streeting said: \u201cFirstly, I do have support in the parliamentary party, but this week I also had a choice.<\/p>\n

\"Wes<\/p>\n

Wes Streeting speaking at the Progress Conference at Convene in London.<\/p>\n

Picture:
\nAlamy
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe could have rushed straight into a leadership contest, knowing not all of the candidates would be on the pitch, that Andy Burnham was about to stand in a by-election, and that if we had rushed ahead without giving Andy a chance to stand, the new leader, whether it was me or anyone else, would lack the legitimacy, and so we would end up extending instability and uncertainty.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat might have been the self-interested thing to do for candidates who are in Parliament presently, but it wasn\u2019t in the party\u2019s interest and wasn\u2019t in the national interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking publicly for the first time since quitting Government, the former health secretary said: \u201cThe voters did more than send Labour a message last week, they issued a warning: that unless we change course, we risk being the handmaidens of Nigel Farage and the breakup of the United Kingdom.\u201d<\/p>\n

He later hit out at Labour\u2019s course over the last few years, telling the audience at the conference for the think tank Progress: \u201cCorbyn\u2019s leadership was marred by factionalism. The moral emergency of antisemitism in our party left little room for intellectual renewal or policy debate on the centre left.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe then had a dishonest leadership contest, followed by an overcautiousness in opposition. Interesting policy ideas couldn\u2019t be floated because we were too afraid of what the Tories might say, so we said nothing.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of a willingness to challenge ideas and kick the tyres, debate was viewed as division and shut down. As a result, we arrived in Government underprepared in too many areas and lacking clarity of vision and direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Referencing the brewing contest to replace Sir Keir Starmer, he said: \u201cThat\u2019s why we need a proper contest where all candidates can put their best foot forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Andy<\/p>\n

Andy Burnham’s path to Downing Street has been made clear after it was announced he would stand in the Makerfield by-election.<\/p>\n

Picture:
\nAlamy
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr Streeting went on to hit out at a culture of \u201cmanagement consultancy\u201d at the centre of Government, and called for Britain to rejoin the European Union.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need a bigger politics,\u201d he told the conference.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cLet\u2019s embrace diversity of thought and competition for ideas as a strength. We won\u2019t find radical solutions by ignoring ideas in favour of just problem solving \u2013 as though Government is the same as management consultancy \u2013 or if we believe that one person or one political tradition has a monopoly on ideas and wisdom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leaving the European Union was a \u201ccatastrophic mistake\u201d, Mr Streeting said.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIn 2026, the British people increasingly see that in a dangerous world, we must club together, both to rebuild our economy and trade, and improve our defence against the shared threats from Russian aggression and America First.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest economic opportunity we have is on our doorstep. We need a new special relationship with the EU, because Britain\u2019s future lies with Europe \u2013 and one day back in the European Union.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mr Streeting resigned from his post in the Cabinet earlier this week in a dramatic departure to pave…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":965763,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,393,4884,257,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-965762","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-london","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116587651886816955","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=965762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/965762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/965763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=965762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=965762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=965762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}