Streeting Wrecks Things for Andy Burnham?

Added: 2026-05-14

[00:00:00]Hi, my name's Phil. I like to talk about politics. Right, what have we got for today's Labor Drama Express? Guess I'm moving that video about Trump's tariffs back again. Basically, if you're a supporter of Andy Burnham, look away now because you're not going to like this.

[00:00:14]There was a very brief meeting between Wes Streeting and Karma this morning.

[00:00:19]Hardly long enough for a wide-ranging discussion. So, who knows what was said, but I am going to come back to that in a bit. There's also a suggestion that Street may be preparing to resign in order to trigger his challenge as early as tomorrow according to the reports.

[00:00:33]Mind you, you could argue is that just some of his allies trying to nudge him to do it. There's little doubt that Streing is satisfied that Star has to go and that he would make a better replacement. But does he think his challenge could succeed?

[00:00:49]But I kind of believe Streing is going to go for it here. Taking all the reports into account and there is a huge gamble facing him for several reasons. I think he's acting foolishly but there's not a lot to be done about that now. I think the decision seems to have been made. The major factor is up against his time. If Andy Bernham returns to parliament, he would easily hands down win a leadership contest. This is one of those rare occasions when a leadership hopeful looks like having lots of support from MPs and members and the public and actually arguably be the most sensible choice. He would definitely get the support of enough MPs, CLPS and unions and the members would back him over like anyone right now. Angela Raina, who herself would probably be the favorite amongst current MPs, has publicly backed Andy Bernham. And although Starmer is likely to continue blocking Bernham's return if he can, at least for a while longer, the NEC elections coming up could take that power out of his hands. So from Streeting's point of view, if he doesn't go now, might not get another chance.

[00:01:55]It's not even like he'd be guaranteed a cabinet position in an Andy Bernham government, though I think it would be a mistake to exclude him for multiple reasons which aren't important right now. But there is also considerable risk by triggering a challenge. Now, it's clear that there is enough support to remove Star urgently rather than waiting for Bernham. There's roughly a 100 Labor MPs who've publicly called for Star to go like now. They're clearly not team Burnham, or if any are, they're obviously a bit thick. This suggests Street would have the numbers to force a leadership contest quickly. If he does, he would then almost certainly be up against Angela Raina, and the members would probably vote for Raina, at which point Streing becomes the political assassin who failed to take the crown.

[00:02:43]It's the sort of thing that can derail your political career when it's only just begun. So although some of streeting's allies may be frustrated that he hasn't moved as yet, here is a situation where I don't blame someone for being like a rabbit caught in headlights. Like move one way, you risk getting squished. Move the other, you risk getting squished. Stay where you are. You might just get away with it. At least until the next car comes along.

[00:03:07]However, I can believe Streeting is intending to resign and force a leadership challenge this week. Earlier this afternoon, Hillary Ben, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, so cabinet minister, was asked if Streeting was still the health secretary, and he said he didn't know.

[00:03:23]That is a mad thing for a cabinet colleague to say, unless they believe that streeting is genuinely about to resign. That got me to think him in that meeting this morning, Streing probably told Star of his intention. That would explain why it was such a short meeting.

[00:03:39]And I'm guessing Stalmer has probably told the cabinet or at least some cabinet ministers including Ben, which would explain lots of things. It explains why the meeting was so short.

[00:03:50]It clearly was too short for a clear the air meeting. Also explains why Ben would say what he said. So if West Streeting is working on a carefully phrased letter of resignation today, which it will have to be very carefully phrased, which is probably why the allies are saying he could trigger it as early as tomorrow.

[00:04:07]It's like, well, what's he waiting for?

[00:04:08]while he's waiting to make sure his letter is like worded perfectly with the intention of publishing it tomorrow or even Friday. Like this is what faces him. First of all, there are clearly Labour MPs who are pushing for Star to exit Downey Street with all haste. They will support the move even if they don't support Street for the leadership. Some will, some won't. Like Raina will surely stand. She will have supporters. Um she would also start off with more party members on her side. So street would have to have a very very good leadership election campaign. There could even be Milliban supporters who would urge him to stand and um and and don't worry about Milliband and Raina splitting the soft left vote. By the way, Labour leadership contests are decided using a transferable vote system. Labour don't use first pass the post for their own elections, nor do the tries. They don't actually believe in first pass the post for their own elections. But enough of that chip on my shoulder. This opens a whole can of worms in itself. two massive problems. The first Raina is actually really unpopular with a lot of key voters. Yes, she is madly popular with another loan, but this is that Marmite that Neil Kinnock once talked about. And it doesn't matter if people think PE that those perceptions of Raina are fair or not, and they're generally not fair. That is politics. It's actually better to have a load of voters think than to have some voters think you're brilliant and the other voters to hate you, right? Because it's just a numbers game. How does it make sense to get rid of Star for being unpopular? Because that's why they're getting rid of him.

[00:05:43]Some people would want him gone for certain policies, of course, but that's that's a tiny minority. The majority are wanting Star Gone for being unpopular.

[00:05:53]be no question about his uh position if he were popular. So why does it make sense to get rid of Stalin for being unpopular only to replace him with someone who is also unpopular?

[00:06:04]It would almost look like Labor are trying to piss the public off. The second problem is that Raina has come out publicly in favor of Andy Burnham.

[00:06:14]Now technically she's only advocating for him to return to Parliament, but everyone knows what that means. Andy Bernham doesn't want to come back to parliament to have a drinking contest with Nigel Farage in the strangers bar.

[00:06:24]So Angela Raina could become the first prime minister at least for some time who doesn't actually really want the job. The second problem for streeting is that all of the Labour MPs who believe that Andy Bernham is best placed to replace Stmer will be furious with him.

[00:06:41]Now, normally you would expect after a leadership contest, obviously people have different ideas about who'd be best. You expect them to get a bit of a crack at things. We'll give you a bit of time, see how you do. I think that even if Streeting wins, he could begin his tenure when Labour need to be united with actually a load of MPs just waiting to trip him up. So the way I see it, if Streeting forces a leadership contest, there will be a challenge from Rainer at least. So it will drag on for the full duration. That means the risk that the markets react neg negatively to the chaos and policy change has been touted because remember all of these leadership hopefuls they're going to have to speak to the members. They're trying to get the members votes. They'll worry about the public later. So they're going to say a load of things that appeal to Labour members. It's not necessarily the sort of thing that appeals to investors in the money markets. Right? So whoever wins may find the economic situation is way less helpful when it's not like it's booming right now. Then the winner will be announced. It will either be Angela Raina, an already unpopular MP who doesn't actually seem to want the job, hardly a recipe for success, or West Streeting, who absolutely does want the job, also isn't that popular. And it's not obvious how he's going to bring his MPs together if the Star allies are pissed off with him and the Burnham allies are pissed off with him. And whoever wins, be it Streeting Raina or even a dark horse alternative like Milliband if they don't turn things around for Labour the MPs will mostly blame Streeting. I mean imagine Angela Raina wins. She'd be the most likely but let's say she fails. Let's say it all comes crashing down. It's a disaster.

[00:08:20]Okay, some people will blame Raina for that. A lot of people will blame Streeting because he's the one who denied the Mandy Burnham who is the one that a lot of people think is the best choice.

[00:08:31]Literally the only way for Wes Streeting to come out of this on top is to win the leadership where he doesn't start favorite and then to win the next general election because anything less and he will face savage treatment and street will surely know this. He's not an idiot which is why I think he will have been hesitant. This is not a move I would advise if Street were to ask me.

[00:08:57]He hasn't asked me just to be clear. The route to victory is very narrow and full of fresh banana skins. However, his ambition may have exceeded his caution.

[00:09:07]What do you think? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Please subscribe to the channel for more content. Click the bell notification icon so you know when new videos are out. Thanks for watching and until next time, I'll see you later.