A panicked Downing Street briefing about Keir Starmer’s plans to fight off any attempts to oust him has fuelled speculation about who could replace him as leader.
The clock has been ticking for some time now on a prime minister who has seen terrible polling ratings get progressively worse in his 16 months in power.
Sir Keir was being given until the crucial elections next May – and potential calamities in Scotland, Wales and London – before MPs would consider a move against him, but if the Budget in a fortnight’s time lands badly then his demise could come sooner.
It only takes one candidate to garner 20 per cent of the MPs to stand against him and the PM is in serious trouble.
But who would that person be and could they unite a warring party?
Wes Streeting
It feels like health secretary Wes Streeting has been talked about as a possible leadership candidate for years.
So it is no surprise that it was alleged manoeuvrings on his part has triggered the mass round of briefings and panic which has plunged Labour into crisis.
Downing Street see Streeting as enough of a threat to warrant a full on attack last night.
The 42-year-old health secretary is charismatic and the one cabinet minister who can connect with the public – as long as they are not striking resident doctors.
The former National Union of Students' president’s main weakness is that he is seen as too far to the right of the party, but he remains a more charismatic version of Starmer with less qualms about being compared to the Tories.
John Healey
The defence secretary John Healey is perhaps a surprise name, but he is a solid, unflappable performer and is being talked about as the “safe pair of hands” alternative and a possible “continuity candidate.”
While the 65-year-old former trade union campaign manager does imbue a sense of assuredness, he is perhaps not the most charismatic option and it remains unclear whether he would significantly boost the party’s popularity with the voters.
In some ways his potential candidacy reflects a lack of options on the Labour benches who can appeal to different wings of the party.
Shabana Mahmood
Another candidate who has been tipped for the top job is the 45-year-old home secretary, who has come into the troubled department with a new robust attitude as she tries to get control of the flow of illegal migration.
Ms Mahmood, a barrister by profession, has certainly got her fans with a feisty attitude in her new department and her old role as justice secretary.
That said, both those departments have been at the nexus of some of the worst problems for this government and some of the fault lies with her. Releasing the wrong prisoners comes from a process she started and her attempts to stop the small boats has seen two – who were returned to France under the ‘one in, one out’ agreement – promptly come back on dinghies across the Channel.
Her biggest issues are similar to Mr Streeting. Like him, she is seen as being on the right of the party and it is unlikely both could run.
Also like Streeting she came within a few hundred votes of losing her seat at the last election to pro-Gaza independents.
Ed Miliband
The left is looking for a candidate and there is a good chance they may turn to someone who had a go as leader before.
If one person wowed the conference delegates in September all week at the fringes, it was energy secretary Ed Miliband. Energy may be his brief, but it’s also what he gave off when he is in the room.
The 55-year-old is a hate figure for the rightwing press because of his net zero policies but this only acts as a plus with members of the party.
A bit like former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, Miliband has found new life and purpose in life after leadership. He is now the evangelist for green energy and net zero when the world needs one.
Gone is the cowed and shrunken man who led the party to defeat in 2015 – he has been replaced by a man who is a serious contender to lead the party again with a new vigour.
Angela Rayner
As news of a potential coup broke overnight the discussion among Angela Rayner’s allies was whether a bid by her is “too soon”.
The feeling is that she still needs more time for the scandal of the unpaid stamp duty bill which forced her resignation as deputy prime minister and housing secretary to fall away.
There is no doubt though that the 45-year-old is planning a come back. Her resignation speech in the Commons a few weeks confirmed that.
Many in the trade unions are eager to see her get the top job and were already plotting her return days after she quit.
It may be that Streeting was making his moves because he knew that if the party waits until May to depose Starmer then Ms Rayner could emerge as a frontrunner with a membership base and parliamentary party which clearly wants to move to the left.
