Rumours growing about plot to overthrow UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been forced to address reports that his rivals within the Labour Party are conspiring to replace him as leader, just two weeks before the government budget announcement, which could further worsen his already abysmal popularity.
Several British media outlets quoted Starmer’s allies on Tuesday as saying his position could be in imminent danger and pointing to Health Secretary Wes Streeting as a contender whose “ambition” was viewed with “particular suspicion.”
These same allies reported that Starmer would fight any challenge to his leadership.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been forced to address rumours of a leadership challenge. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images) (Getty)
Streeting dismissed the rumours as “counterproductive nonsense” and told UK media that he “could not conceive of any circumstances” in which he would do that to the prime minister. He accused those responsible for the leaks, the claims made public, of trying to seriously undermine him.
By Wednesday, what could have remained a mere political rumour had escalated into a full-blown crisis.
Accused by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch of fostering a toxic atmosphere in Downing Street, Starmer was forced to address reports that his allies were leaking damaging information about senior government officials.
Starmer told Parliament that he had not authorised the leaks against his colleagues.
“I appointed them to their posts because they are the most qualified people to do the job,” he said. “Any attack on any member of my cabinet is completely unacceptable.”
UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Wes Streeting. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images) (Getty)
This latest crisis to hit the UK government comes before the budget announcement on November 26, a date on which the Labour Party is expected to break a key election promise to alleviate the fiscal deficit: to increase the income tax rate for the first time in half a century.
Finance minister Rachel Reeves has indicated that both tax increases and spending cuts will be possible when she presents her plans for next year, with the aim of reducing the national debt.
This will likely provoke further attacks from Nigel Farage, whose anti-immigrant Reform UK party has been leading the national polls against the Labour Party for months.
Starmer’s popularity plummeted shortly after Labour’s landslide victory in the July 2024 general election. YouGov, a polling firm, said this month that only 17 per cent of Britons approve of Starmer’s performance as prime minister, while 73 per cent disapprove.
The decision by Starmer’s allies to leak information against Streeting, the minister in charge of reforming Britain’s ailing National Health Service, baffled and surprised many Labour politicians and has raised doubts about the control the prime minister exerts over his government in Downing Street.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage is riding high in opinion polls. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP) (AP)
“People are baffled,” a Labour MP told CNN, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Nobody understands where this information is coming from.”
Parliamentarians are also baffled by the timing of the leak. After a rocky first year in office that made Starmer one of Britain’s most unpopular prime ministers in history, Labour MPs had previously indicated they would not challenge him seriously for the leadership until after local elections next May, thus giving his government time to reverse its plummeting poll numbers.
However, Tuesday briefing raised the possibility that Starmer could face a leadership challenge following the budget presentation.
Despite Streeting’s denial that he was seeking to challenge for the Labour Party leadership, a website was launched on Tuesday with the slogan “Wes for Leader.” CNN has requested comment from Streeting’s office.
Rumours of a leadership challenge last surfaced in September, when Andy Burnham – a former MP and current mayor of Greater Manchester in north-west England – launched a bold, albeit unsuccessful, attempt to challenge Starmer’s approach on the eve of the Labour Party’s annual conference.
However, ousting a Labour leader is difficult, as any challenger would need the support of 20 per cent of the party’s MPs, meaning 80 of them would have to agree on an alternative candidate.
