Streeting resigns, but can he trigger a leadership contest?
The Politics Show
The New Statesman
4.2 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 14 May 2026
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Wes Streeting resigned as Health Secretary on Thursday morning, but Ailbhe Rea says Keir Starmer is determined to fight on.
After days of speculation – and a 16-minute meeting at Number 10 – Wes Streeting has finally resigned from cabinet.
On the same day, Angela Rayner has announced she has been "cleared" of wrongdoing related to unpaid property tax, which would leave her free to run in a leadership contest if one is triggered.
However, sources inside Number 10 have told Ailbhe Rea that Wes Streeting does not have the backing of enough MPs to trigger a leadership contest. So what is the former Health Secretary hoping to achieve?
And if a leadership contest were triggered, who else would be likely to run?
Ailbhe Rea and Anoosh Chakelian discuss the latest from Westminster in The Politics Show.
READ: Wes Streeting resigns with an excoriating letter to Starmer
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The New Statesman. |
| 0:05.0 | West Streeting has resigned as Health Secretary, but he hasn't yet triggered a Labour leadership challenge. |
| 0:10.0 | Does he have the backing of enough MPs to do so? |
| 0:13.0 | Our political correspondent Ethan Croft analyses Streeting's resignation letter in a piece on NewStatesman.com, |
| 0:19.0 | where he makes the intriguing observation |
| 0:21.2 | that it may signal that he wants to allow Andy Burnham time to enter the race. |
| 0:25.9 | I'm Anusha Kellyan, and this is the politics show for The New Statesman. |
| 0:29.8 | And earlier this morning, I was joined by our political editor, Alva Ray, to discuss how we got |
| 0:34.3 | to this point. West Streeting announces reservation shortly after we finished |
| 0:38.2 | recording. Alva, thanks so much for joining us on yet another crazy day in Westminster. Can you give us |
| 0:45.0 | an update on what's going on with West Streeting? Basically, his people seem to be saying that he's due |
| 0:50.6 | to launch the challenge today, but what time is it now? It's 10 past 11. |
| 0:54.9 | We've still not had that move yet, have we? |
| 0:57.0 | I mean, I was just in Parliament before I came here. |
| 0:59.8 | And there's some ways streeting people milling around Port Cullis House and the corridors, |
| 1:05.0 | looking, I have to say, very stressed and not very happy, which may tell you nothing. |
| 1:11.1 | That could be for a million reasons. |
| 1:12.9 | But definitely inside number 10, they are really adamant that he does not have the numbers. |
| 1:19.4 | They do their own whipping operation. |
| 1:21.9 | They have, you know, looked at everyone who has called on Starmer to resign publicly. |
| 1:27.2 | And they can only get |
| 1:28.1 | up to about 20 or 30 people who are obviously streeting people. But even beyond that, there was a |
... |
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