After days of false starts, red herrings, a vicious briefing war by all sides and a concerted fightback by Starmer, his MPs believe the competing routes to oust him are now becoming clearer.
The prime minister could cling on for at least a month or two. If he does not choose to set out a timetable himself, he could face one or both of two rivals: the Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, and the centrist former Health Secretary Wes Streeting, whose desire to launch an immediate challenge sputtered out Thursday.
Waiting in the wings is Starmer’s former deputy Angela Rayner, a favorite of Labour’s “soft left” flank, if Burnham falls at one of the hurdles on the road to the top job. She announced Thursday that she had been cleared of deliberate wrongdoing in a probe into her tax affairs — and spent the afternoon at a Buckingham Palace garden party while parliament plotted.
“We will get there eventually,” said one ally of Streeting, granted anonymity to speak frankly. A second Streeting ally added: “There’s not much option left, other than screaming into the void.”
All are now likely to spend the ensuing time flitting between shadow-boxing and pact-forming, setting out agendas for a government that does not yet exist — while Starmer fights the prospect of becoming Britain’s fifth prime minister in seven years to be booted from office.
The King of the North returns (maybe)
First in the jostling line to replace Starmer is Burnham, who as the mayor of Greater Manchester has earned the moniker “King of the North” from his party and the public. But to run, he must first return to Westminster to become an MP.