UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer appears likely to face a left-wing “putsch” from inside his own party following apparent peace talks on Wednesday morning.
Wes Streeting, the country’s current Health Secretary, met with the Labour prime minister on Wednesday morning in an apparent push to solve the current infighting within the government.
While insiders suggest Streeting attended the peace talks at Number 10 in the hopes of getting Starmer to resign, no such result was yielded, with the senior politician exiting the PM’s residence just 16 minutes after he entered with no news to give.
According to The Guardian, insiders are claiming that this is because Starmer refused Streeting’s demands to resign.
They now claim that Streeting is planning to resign by Wednesday evening and openly challenge Starmer for the leadership in what the news outlet classifies as a “putsch”.
“He’s going for it,” one unnamed source said, while another claims that the health secretary “thinks he’s got the numbers” to pull the revolt off.
Another insider from the Starmer cabinet also acknowledged the challenge, though appeared to claim the revolt had little chance of succeeding.
“Personally I’d throw him in the river but luckily Keir Starmer is a calm and patient person,” they said.
Streeting’s potential coup d’etat comes amidst growing pressure on Starmer to resign, with the PM taking the brunt of the blame for Labour’s loss of nearly 1,500 seats during the country’s local elections this year.
The health secretary is not the only one alleged to be in the running for Britain’s top job, however, with Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham also seen as a popular choice to replace Starmer.
Unlike Starmer — who has been viewed by many as pushing right-leaning policies in order to poach conservative voters — Barnham has advocated Labour stick to trying to win over Leftists with more radical policies on jobs, housing and the environment.