A minister has torn into talk of a coronation for Wes Streeting to become Labour leader as the party was gripped with fresh tensions over a possible coup against Sir Keir Starmer.
Health minister Karin Smyth said she was “fed up” with the latest speculation of a move to oust the Prime Minister and install Mr Streeting as Prime Minister in No10.
She insisted that Health Secretary Mr Streeting, MP for Ilford North, was totally focused on driving down NHS waiting lists, improving access to GPs and other changes in the health service.
But Mr Streeting’s supporters were said to be plotting to push for him to have a coronation as Labour leader, rather than a fierce battle against an MP on the Left of the party, with former Cabinet minister Angela Rayner expected to stand if there was a contest.
“Having someone from a similar tradition as Keir who can say they’ll stick to the manifesto will help resist the inevitable calls for a general election,” one MP told The Times.
“ Changing leader and massively altering our policies, as people like Angela seem to want, would undermine the platform we all stood on in 2024. It needs to be a coronation.”
A minister added: “The hard left just want to look inward. But with Wes, he’s got the judgment and political appetite to get stuck into the issues most affecting the country.”
A Government source also told the newspaper: “The country is crying out for someone who is an ideologue. Someone who voters think ‘even if I only agree with 70 per cent of what you say, I know what you stand for and I respect you for it’.
“Wes is one of the contenders who knows what they think and is not afraid of going out to make the argument, even if it’s confrontational.”
Asked if the Health Secretary will soon be Prime Minister, Ms Smith told Sky News: “Wes Streeting is absolutely focused on driving us all in the health team to do what we are doing...and that is yielding results.
“We know it’s green shoots, we know recovery is going to be long and hard.”
Pressed about the report in The Times that Mr Streeting’s allies are planning to seek to topple Sir Keir after the May local elections, she added: “I don’t know where all that comes from.
“I think people get really fed up of it, I do.
“I know that we are absolutely focused every day on getting down these waiting lists, improving access to GPs, that’s our promise to the British people, that is what they expect us to do, and that is what we are going to do.”
The latest Labour ruptions comes after the recent coup frenzy in Downing Street which saw No10 sources briefing that Sir Keir would fight any move to topple him, with accusations that Mr Streeting’s allies were already on “manoeuvres” ahead of a possible leadership contest.
The Health Secretary accused Downing Street insiders of trying to “kneecap” him with briefings against him, and denied he was plotting against the Prime Minister.
Sir Keir decided not to launch a formal probe to find out who had briefed against Mr Streeting, having been told no-one at No10 had done so.
The PM’s chief-of-staff Morgan McSweeney has denied being one of the briefers but Sir Keir has faced calls to remove him from the key post.
