The sense of relief in Westminster when Wes Streeting’s resignation letter finally landed was palpable.
Even the now former health secretary’s critics and enemies in the party were worried until 1pm that he had “bottled it” again, with a challenge that has now been on the cards since Monday afternoon.
MPs were complaining “we can’t just limp on, we need to resolve this”, as the prime minister clung on in his bunker in Downing Street, “in office but not in power”, as Kemi Badenoch put it.
Mr Streeting clearly wanted to leave with one final success in his former brief, and this morning it was announced that the NHS had achieved the interim target of 65 per cent of NHS patients being seen in less than 18 weeks.
His resignation suggests that he now believes he can get the required number of fellow Labour MPs to support his likely challenge for the leadership, although the call in his letter for a longer contest and the absence of an immediate bid suggest he is still playing for time to get his supporters lined up.
The bigger picture here, though, is that this brings a much quicker end to the Keir Starmer premiership.
While the now former health secretary has not formally launched his challenge yet, his intentions are obvious.
The move had to happen now, because a delay could have allowed the much more popular and unifying candidate Andy Burnham to return to parliament as an MP amid growing rumours allies were considering resigning from their seats to give him a chance to run. Instead, Mr Burnham is stuck in Greater Manchester as mayor.
Sir Keir has made it clear he will fight Mr Streeting for his leadership, but is facing the prospect of a delegation of cabinet ministers going to him this afternoon to tell him it is over.
Once Mr Streeting formally launches a bid, others are likely to follow.
Now that she is clear of her tax issues, former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner is the obvious candidate on the left to take on Mr Streeting.
She is a “Marmite” character, but is now the bookmakers’ favourite to win because of the make-up of the Labour Party and trade union voters in a contest.
Meanwhile, other candidates cannot be ruled out yet. Eyes will be on energy secretary Ed Miliband, a former leader who lost the 2015 general election, but has been eyeing a second go.
Defence minister Al Carns is ready to make the leap, according to supporters who briefed The Independent last night. As a distinguished former Royal Marines commander, he would bring a very different perspective to the top job.
It seems unlikely that home secretary Shabana Mahmood and foreign secretary Yvette Cooper will jump into the race, but their support could be crucial to the winning candidate, particularly in getting support from Labour MPs to get on the ballot.
The reality, though, is that Mr Streeting has done the one thing he always wanted to avoid. He is the man who wielded the knife to finish off Sir Keir. The old adage of “the one to wield the knife [shall] never wear the crown” will hang over him now.
But from Monday, it was always going to end this way. From the moment that Chris Curtis, chair of the growth group and a Streeting ally, called for Starmer to go, the cascade of MPs demanding a change came from the former health secretary’s allies.
The Independent first revealed that Streeting was poised to launch his bid. Now, four days of plotting later, he has finally held his nerve, left the government and appears to be on the verge of making a run to be leader.
But even now, it seems unlikely that he will be the one to emerge victorious, for all his bravado.
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