Summary
The Labour psychodrama continues. Wes Streeting resigned as health secretary on Thursday afternoon, stating that it was clear Sir Keir Starmer would not lead the Labour Party into the next general election. However he has not yet triggered a leadership contest. Meanwhile, Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said he’ll plan to run for a parliamentary seat in a by-election. So, where does this leave the party? And what will happen next?
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Guest: Lara Spirit, deputy political editor, The Sunday Times
Host: Manveen Rana
Producers: Sophie McNulty, Harry Bligh
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Read more: Keir Starmer latest - live page
Further listening: What the hell’s going on in Westminster?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From The Times and the Sunday Times, this is The Story. I'm Manvine Rana. |
| 0:10.9 | So West Streeting, the health secretary, has resigned from Kier-Starmer's cabinet. |
| 0:18.4 | In a long day of political intrigue and Labour Party psychodrama, |
| 0:23.8 | Wes Streting finally, in a much-previewed move, quit the cabinet. He has said in this letter, |
| 0:31.0 | having lost confidence in your leadership, I have concluded it would be dishonourable and unprincipled to remain in post. |
| 0:40.1 | He says where we need vision, we have a vacuum. |
| 0:44.7 | But Streeting wasn't the only Labour leadership hopeful lining up to join the race. |
| 0:50.2 | Angela Rainer, the former Deputy Prime Minister, says she paid HMRC £40,000 and has been cleared |
| 0:56.6 | of wrongdoing in the investigation into her tax affairs. It has paved the way for her possible |
| 1:01.8 | leadership bid against Kyr-Stama. Another potential leadership rival is the Mayor of Greater |
| 1:06.3 | Manchester, Andy Burnham. He's pulled out of his regular BBC Radio Manchester slot this morning. |
| 1:11.6 | Oh and an additional development, Al Kahn's the Defence Minister. |
| 1:15.6 | He's shimmied up Everest recently as it happens. |
| 1:18.6 | He has a long piece in the New Statesman magazine setting out his diagnosis of why Labour is in so much trouble. |
| 1:26.6 | A crowd of potential contestants have been jostling for a place at the starting line, |
| 1:32.2 | but no one has fired the starting gun. |
| 1:35.6 | But importantly, West Streeting has not yet triggered a leadership challenge. |
| 1:40.5 | Those two things are different, a leadership challenge and the resignation. |
| 1:45.0 | So what happens now? Has Wes Streting bottled it? Will someone else throw their hat in the ring? |
| 1:51.3 | Or has Keir Stama somehow managed to cling on? The story today, Labour at war. |
| 2:09.0 | I actually just bumped into West Streeting, would you believe it? I actually just bumped into West Streeting, would you believe it, when I was pushing my bike in to come up to the office. |
| 2:24.6 | That's Lara Spirit, Deputy Political Editor at the Sunday Times. |
... |
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