REVEALED: ‘Starmer Was Looking To SACK Wes Streeting’ | Labour Civil WAR Explodes

Added: 2026-05-14

[00:00:00]David, good to have you with us. I mean, we can sort of theorize and intellectualize all this business of what, you know, what goes on the history of Labour leaders. Right now, K Star isn't thinking anything about Kia Hardy, that's for sure. He's thinking, can I survive the next 24 hours?

[00:00:15]>> Well, I mean, history is history to certain. It's it's what's happening now and in the present. And now we're all waiting for the health secretary Wes Streeting to resign uh probably tomorrow by the sounds of it and that's at least what his allies are telling us and uh effectively kickstart a Labour leadership contest. It won't stop with him though. Uh we expect Angela Raina to jump in and possibly Ed Milliband as well from what their allies are saying.

[00:00:45]>> And that is it then, isn't it for Karma?

[00:00:47]I mean there's no um there's no way back unless of course he does what others had done thatcher major and the like and stuck his own you keeps his own name in there and wins. I mean I suppose there's always that possibility.

[00:00:58]>> I mean under under the rules he's entitled to and he's entitled to fight out. I mean he faces a potential humiliation though if if he fights and loses. I mean, but you know, one thing that Labour MPs have been saying to me just today and yesterday and uh well, all week really is just how shocked they are at how stubborn he is and how determined he is to hold on despite, you know, almost a hundred of his MPs now saying they don't have confidence in him and, you know, the dreadful election results last week. Everything's gone right. It is so over for him. I mean, the man cannot even sack somebody who's basically told the world that he's going to resign from his government. I mean, you'd have thought if he had any authority, any strength now, he would say, "We're treating, sorry, mate, you're out." I >> I mean, it's very odd. Not only that is um his spokesman has said the prime minister has confidence in West Streeting in the last couple, >> full confidence. What's all that about?

[00:01:58]Where does that come from?

[00:01:59]>> It is It is just bizarre. I mean, I don't I don't know if there's some kind of weird overthinking here of, you know, let's dare Wes to resign and, you know, just have it all on him. I mean, he should be he should just sack him. He almost sacked him last December for exactly the same sort of reason because Wes Street was maneuvering for his job.

[00:02:20]>> Sure.

[00:02:21]>> And and and apparently planning a coup.

[00:02:23]I mean, he denies that, of course, I should add, but it's like, you know, I mean, we we were I think we were the first to report on Monday that uh that the West Streeting challenge was on. It was his people who were calling for the prime minister to go. You know, the coup was effectively on for then. It's partly West Streeting's own kind of backbone and bottle that's delayed it ever since.

[00:02:49]But we've got to a point now where he's clearly going to do it and the prime minister wants to hold on or the prime minister needs to show that, you know, he's strong enough and and can fight this man.

[00:03:00]>> Well, indeed, you would you would think so. Um and maybe we will hear some of that from the prime minister tomorrow if if streeting does uh make this uh this worstkept secret slightly more public in terms of where streeting can go with this because what I do find curious with respect to Wes and I suppose others but it's Wes that's at the the center of this at the moment is that if you crunch the numbers West Street probably can't win. I mean, he might, but he probably can't given the divisions within the party itself. So, why would he put himself into that bare pit if the numbers suggest he can't possibly win?

[00:03:42]>> Well, I think I think he believes he can. He has a lot of support in the parliamentary party. He's very much been the candidate of the right of the party for quite some time now. I mean his problem is that Labour is largely softleft in its membership and the unions don't like him and you know if he has any kind of leftwing challenger whether it's Ed Milliband Angela Rain or even by some miracle Andy Bham gets back although I think we can discount that for now >> you know uh then yes he would struggle.

[00:04:14]I mean, I was told a month ago that that Kristan was actually looking at a reshuffle and and sacking him anyway because he he thought that if we're treating stood against him just alone, then, you know, he could beat him.

[00:04:29]>> Yeah.

[00:04:29]>> In a head-to-head. But it's I don't know. I mean, Wes has this kind of sense of destiny about him. This kind of belief that he's almost, you know, the Tony Blair of his era and it's just waiting for it to happen, you know.

[00:04:43]Well, I mean, the constituents in his own um uh constituency weren't quite as convinced because he sits there on a wafer thin majority, doesn't he?

[00:04:52]>> Although, in fairness to him, and this is really, I think, quite an important part of a development last week in that bloodbath for Labor, the Labour vote held up very well in Redbridge, including his own constituency sore off the Greens.

[00:05:09]>> True of weird gazer independence and all that. So he at least from last Thursday had a kind of well I've I've leed the lesson. I've shown how we can take on these people in our backyards. Uh I don't think it's going to be I I I mean I don't see him succeeding in in his hopes to become Labour leader and prime minister, but you know, you can't write it off >> based on what we've seen. David, and it would would it be fair to say before we get into just just the players and who's likely to by the end of the week at least have their name up there. Um, is it fair to say that it was the Manslon saga? You were absolutely pivotal to this of course and the revelations and some great scoops and um top journalism on on your part as I've said to you before. Um, was it that that was the tipping point for I mean we can point to lots of things. If if the if the barometer is ineptitude then there's quite a lot of markers on it but Mandlesson is that the tipping point or was that the tipping point?

[00:06:12]>> I I I think it was in the end. I mean it it's so hard to say because he's been so unpopular for almost the entirety of his government. I think, you know, losing his authority with a welfare rebellion last year kind of really set him on the track to effectively losing his job and being ousted. But I think the the Mandlesson stuff has been so bad. And and you know, there are still serious question marks over whether over his integrity and whether he's told the truth on this. He hasn't got through that even yet, let alone the incredibly poor judgment of appointing that man to such an important diplomatic role. When you know, as I've said before, I mean, my revelation was about Mandlesson failing with security vetting. You did not need the security vetting to know this was the wrong appointment. All you needed was a Google search and that was it, you know.

[00:07:05]>> But the security vetting threw up again, didn't it? The ridiculousness of the of the initial appointment. So let's say end of week David we are there with west streeting Ed Milliband Angela Raina there may be another one or two but of those three who becomes the next Labour leader and including K Dharma in there >> I I I I would still suggest that Angela Rainer I know she hasn't cleared her tax issues yet but I think she's got the wider support amongst members of the trade unions she's certainly been making an interesting pitch policywise since she was forced to leave her job. Um I would put Ed Milliban second on that.

[00:07:49]He's very popular within his biggest question is whether he gets the 80 odd MPs to nominate him but he's very popular amongst members. Not so much in the country but we have to remember that the electorate here is the Labour party not not the wider country. If it was a wider country it would be it would be Wes Streeting who is a much better candidate for >> Interesting. U David will speak again but always great to have you on. Thank you David Maddox. He is of course a political editor over there at the Independent. He's done some cracking. I mean the Mandlesson stuff was was brilliant and that did quite rightly but extraordinary really that it it reopened the initial decision of Kharma to appoint him. It just refueled the the ludicrousness of that decision and did so in highlighted pen in neon lights and in front page terms in size 58 font. So that was the the the area that David was reporting on and then of course since then it's been this kind of trickle and now it's like a big boulder down the hill and it looks as if tomorrow I mean it's been strange this story. Who knows? Tomorrow maybe streeting will just go, "Nah, I don't want to do it. I haven't got the I've got the numbers to do it, but I don't think I've got the numbers to win it."

[00:09:05]Then you end up with Angela Raina. Now, Angela Raina, we mentioned Charisma with Cole Murphy, our historian guest. Uh, love her or hate her, she will, oddly, I mean, I think she could jump on a whole load of landmines um as she goes through her prime ministerial career if she gets it. But she there would be something about her. People would look at her.

[00:09:31]It's funny with these jobs. You end up projecting something onto somebody once they have the job. I've said this forever about Gordon Brown. Not that I thought he was a great prime minister.

[00:09:41]Uh but he looked more prime ministerial the day after he became prime minister.

[00:09:45]It's just naturally what we all do. And I think Raina could have a almost a Boris Johnsonesness in for different reasons, but for the same upshot in that there'll be a it'll be colorful. That's maybe the way to look at it.