Wes Streeting leaves No 10 after planned talks with Keir Starmer last just 17 minutes
Good morning. There are two main events in the diary today. At this point, it is not entirely clear which will turn out to be more consequential.
At 11.15am the king will arrive at parliament for the state opening. The king’s speech sets out the legislative programme for the next year. Kiran Stacey has a preview here.
In normal circumstances, this is one of the big events in the annual political calendar – although most of what is in the speech has been well trailed, so it is more a day for ceremony than surprise. We will get plenty of information; alongside the speech, the government publishes a 100-page briefing pack, with outline details of all the bills coming up over the next 12 months.
But Keir Starmer had another appointment first. We learned last night that he would be meeting Wes Streeting, the health secretary who wants to replace him. Yesterday Starmer in effect challenged Streeting to ‘put up or shut up’ and, although some of Streeting’s allies have resigned from ministerial jobs, and others have joined the long list of Labour MPs publicly calling for Starmer’s resignation, by last night Streeting had still not launched a formal leadership challenge. In Downing Street they are starting to believe that Streeting has blinked because he does not have the support he needs to win a contest.
Streeting arrived for the meeting at Downing Street at 8.24am. He was
Streeting allies have indicated that they don’t intend to brief on what happened until the king’s speech is over, out of respect for Charles. But it does not seem likely that a meeting that swift was cordial. According to reports, Streeting was going to ask Starmer how he planned to “get us out of this mess”. Starmer clearly was not minded to give him a long, considered, collegiate answer. What we don’t know is whether or not Streeting said he would launch a leadership challenge.
Here is the agenda for the day.
- 11.15am: The king arrives at Westminster for the state opening. He delivers his speech at around 11.30am.
- 2.30pm: MPs started their debate on the speech. After speeches from two government backbenchers proposing and seconding the speech, Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, and Starmer deliver speeches.
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UPDATE: Joe Pike from the BBC has checked the timings, and says Wes Streeting was in No 10 for 17 minutes, and so I have gone with his timings, not Sky’s, and amended the headline. See the update.
Here are pictures of Wes Streeting leaving No 10. Ali Fortescue from said he “looked pretty stony-faced”.
"If No 10 hoped not to overshadow the King’s Speech, a sub-20 minute meeting between Keir Starmer and Wes Streeting ain’t gonna cut it."
Here is some comment from journalists on the Starmer/Streeting meeting.
"Starmer rigorously follow a bureaucratic control playbook in the handling of the Streeting encounter - set meetings only on your terms - put the meeting on a day when there is something bigger going (King’s speech) on to diminish the significance of the meeting - keep meeting markedly short, thus being seem to be open to having “heard” what the irked colleague has to say : but not long enough to engage - expect more of this because Prime Minister has the way he is going to handle the challenge"
"Wes Streeting was in and out of Downing Street this morning in 20 minutes flat. Not a word to the media, but a long confident walk up and down the street before and after. Projecting determination."
"Streeting went through the door of Number 10 at 08:24 and left at 08:41. So that is actually 17 minutes."
Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Cabinet Office minister, was on the morning broadcast round this morning. He had to give interviews before the meeting between Keir Starmer and Streeting took place, or before he knew its outcome. He sought to play down the significance of it.
On the Today programme he said the two were “having a coffee” and dismissed claims it was a showdown. He said:
"Anyone would think we were talking about the final scene at a Casino Royale or something, looking at some of the coverage that we’ve had."
And, on BBC Breakfast, he stressed that a leadership contest was not taking place.
"There is no contest for the leadership of the Labour party. There’s a very clear way to do that under our rules of 81 people nominating an alternative candidate. That hasn’t happened. The contest hasn’t been triggered. We are moving on. I’m not saying yesterday wasn’t turbulent. It evidently was, but we are moving, getting on with delivery."
Labour-supporting unions predict Starmer will not lead party into next election
Keir Starmer will not lead his party into the next general election, Labour-supporting unions have predicted, in an intervention that threatens to further destabilise the prime minister after a damaging few days, Pippa Crerar reports.
Here is the joint statement issued by the 11 Labour-affiliated unions.
"Labour’s affiliated unions have been clear that Labour cannot continue on its current path. Whilst we recognise progress has been made, such as aspects of the Employment Rights Act and the increase in the minimum wage, the results at the election last week were devastating. Labour is not doing enough to deliver the change that working people voted for at the general election. Our focus is on the fundamental change of direction on economic policy and political strategy that unions have been clear is needed, and not on the personalities and unfolding political drama in Westminster. It’s clear that the prime minister will not lead Labour into the next election, and at some stage a plan will have to be put in place for the election of a new leader. This is a point where the future of the party we founded will be debated and determined – and we are working closely as unions to shape a shared vision on policy, political strategy and economic policy that will re-orient Labour back to working people, so Labour do what it was elected to do: govern in the interests of workers."
As Wes Streeting left No 10, reporters shouted questions at him, asking if he had resigned. He did not reply.
It is possible that he did, or that he was sacked. But on the BBC Henry Zeffman, the BBC’s chief political correspondent, says Streeting left in a ministerial car – implying he is still health secretary.
Zeffman says Streeting was in there for 17 minutes. Beth Rigby from Sky says
Either way, that implies Starmer’s message to Streeting was simple and blunt.
