BREAKING: Keir Starmer and Wes Streeting SHOWDOWN to happen in Downing Street IMMINENTLY

Added: 2026-05-13

[00:00:00]We've got the health secretary of course expected to be on his way to Downing Street for that showdown with Saki Starmer. It is going to be box office today. Will Wes Streeting go? Will he create a will he trigger the leadership contest as early as this morning before the king's speech or is he going to do the honorable thing and wait until that constitutional moment where the king has open reopened parliament and set out's policy agenda for the next couple of year years will he do it before then or are we expecting to see it happen today this is where anything could happen now the the health secretary is expected to tell the prime minister, "How are you going to get us out of this mess?" Let's go back over to Downing Street. Ellie Costello is standing by there outside the famous door of number 10. Ellie, you're going to be keeping an eye out for the health secretary with our deputy political editor, Tom Harwood, aren't you?

[00:01:02]>> Yes, we will be. Alex, West Streeting will be passing right by us in just a few hours time. will be heading behind that famous black door behind us for a showdown with the prime minister. Now, what exactly he's going to say to the prime minister, nobody can be sure, but reports are saying that he's going to be discussing the turbulence that the party is seeing and he's going to ask the question, how are you going to get us out of this mess? I think the whole country would like to know the answer to that question, Alex. Well, let's bring in our deputy political editor, Tom Harard. This showdown expected later on this morning. Tom, how's it going to go?

[00:01:40]What is Wes Streeting going to say to the prime minister?

[00:01:43]>> That is the million pound question.

[00:01:45]Ultimately, Wes Streeting reportedly attempted to see the prime minister yesterday immediately after cabinet.

[00:01:51]Cabinet was a more muted affair than many expected with the prime minister opening proceedings saying that effectively no leadership talk should happen during that meeting but people should go and see the prime minister individually if they have something to say. Curiously however after cabinet the prime minister reportedly prevented the health secretary from coming to see him from exchanging his views with the prime minister and that's where we lead ourselves to today. It's a curious day because of course this would ordinarily be a great occasion of state. People preparing for all the pomp and pageantry of the reopening of parliament. A thousand military personnel, dozens of horses, the king approaching to uh the the the grand entrance of uh of parliament in Victoria Tower. And yet amidst all of that there is this constitutional question. Who is actually leading the government and who will for the remainder of this term in parliament? And that is a question that no one can answer today with any certainty. We've seen within the Labour party there are roughly 400 MPs. 411 were elected at the last election, but there have been a few bi-elections and some defections since then. Around 100 have called publicly for the prime minister to go. Around 100 have called publicly for the prime minister to stay.

[00:03:13]And that leaves 200 Labor MPs who have not publicly made their position clear signing up to one of these letters or issuing one of those statements. And that leaves a huge question mark over what might happen in the coming hours or the coming days.

[00:03:28]>> Hello, I'm Bev Turner. Now, it can feel like the money in our bank accounts at the moment does not keep up with the cost of living. And maybe there's a solution. I'm here today with the CEO of Tally Money, uh, Cameron Perry. Cameron, what is Tally Money?

[00:03:46]>> Well, Bev, with Tally Money, you get a current account and a debit card, but instead of pounds, you use milligrams of gold as your everyday money.

[00:03:54]>> So, why gold?

[00:03:57]>> Gold traditionally is a great store of value. It has on average gone up at over 11% peranom for the last 25 years against the pound. It's tripled in value in the last decade and in the last two years alone it's increased by 50% against the pound. Banks savings products just can't compete with that level of growth.

[00:04:17]>> But this isn't just about gold. This is about a currency that you guys have created at Tally Money. Explain it to me as though I'm an idiot. So look, people need to be able to hold their earnings and build their savings in a money that retains its value and remains in their legal control and remains theirs to access away from government control.

[00:04:36]>> Great. You had me not exposed to government control.

[00:04:39]>> You should feel safe and happy with your money. You should have peace of mind the more money you see in your bank balance.

[00:04:44]And that's the type of thing we're trying to deliver and give people choice in the type of money they get to use every day.

[00:04:51]>> Brilliant. Thank you so much, Cameron.

[00:04:53]Thank you.

[00:05:03]Has the prime minister played a blinder in a sense, Tom, that he he's correct, isn't he, when he says there's a process by which we can start leadership election that has not been triggered.

[00:05:13]He's given himself time here and he knows that most likely he is safe today because nobody wants to overshadow the king and the king's speech which is taking place later on this morning.

[00:05:23]conventional wisdom is that the person most likely to want to trigger the the formal process for a Labour leadership election and just to remind everyone that's uh one candidate plus 80 MPs.

[00:05:36]Formal nomination papers must go in and they must be uh nominated by those those MPs. Once those MPs have pledged to nominate one individual, they can't uh nominate anyone else. This is what locks in a contest. K Dharma by the way would automatically be a candidate in that contest. It would be a challenge to his leadership. In order for that to get going, it is uh perceived to be the most likely person to do so would be Wes Streeting because he would be be advantaged by a faster contest. Uh it it's seen that Angela Raina would favor a longer contest. It's seen uh that obviously Andy Bernham would favor a longer contest being not in parliament.

[00:06:16]He would require a bi-election to come in. We might discuss that in a moment.

[00:06:19]But ultimately what happens now is people are wondering will Wes Streeting trigger that process? And it is right to think about the constitutional pageantry today, the king being in parliament uh reportedly the palace phoned up Downing Street yesterday to uh to question whether or not the king's speech should go ahead today. Well, clearly there's some uh there's some worry around this being overshadowed about the king being drawn into politics, something the palace is very very keen that he has not uh drawn into. And therefore, what we're seeing today is likely uh a bit of a hiatus in what has been a torid time for the government. 10 resignations from the Labour front bench, let's remember. And of course we are now thinking maybe maybe if Wes Streeting moves it could be tomorrow rather than today >> because it is a very small window of opportunity that Wes Streeting has before the left of the party get their act together. We are hearing that Andy Burnham where we saw him yesterday at London Houston station didn't we? We are hearing he had secret meetings in London last night with allies talking about where a seat could come up for a bi-election. What do you know about that Tom?

[00:07:31]>> That's right. Andy Burnham canled a series of events in London yesterday and yet he came down by train anyway. He was spotted by the Telegraph snapping him at Houston station and uh reportedly Andy Bernham had meetings with a series of Labour MPs favorable uh to his leadership ambitions. There have been reported six Labour MPs who were thought to be those that have been in discussions with Andy Bernham to give up their seat and yet no one publicly has uh uh commented on this or committed to giving up their seat. It is understood however that Andy Burnham has found a seat that he would be uh the incumbent holder of which would be willing to give up for Andy Bernham to come in. A fly in that ointment, however, is it's not up to Andy Burnham. It's up to a committee of the NEC of the Labour Party, the National Executive of the Labor Party controlled by allies of Kia Starmmer, which of course blocked Andy Burnham from standing in a bi-election uh last time in Gorton and Denton, and could do so again if they really didn't want Andy Burnham to return to Parliament.

[00:08:39]>> Okay, Tom, you're going to be with us all morning. Thank you very much for bringing that to us. Well, there you go, Alex. Uh we're hearing here that Andy Burner may have found a seat in which to stand in a bi-election. Of course, that all comes to uh down to whether or not he would get permission to stand or would he be blocked again as he was in Gordon and Denton. I think it's clear to say, Alex, that anything could happen today.

[00:09:02]>> It certainly could. Allie, thank you very much. Joining us live back here in the studio is Duncan Barks, political commentator. Um, of course we'll be going back live to Downing Street whenever there's any. We have hopefully get eyes on the secretary at some point, Doug. We don't know what time he's arriving there, but it has to be before the King speech uh later on this morning. Duncan, it is very hard to say what's happening right now. There is not much clarity across the board. Um, we've we've heard reports Andy Bernham was down here in London courting MPs yesterday. Perhaps he was courting one of them to find a seat uh or at least to shore up his a potential leadership bid.

[00:09:39]We've got Wes Streeting uh clearly on maneuvers. We're just waiting to know if he's going to pull the trigger. Of course, in in the middle of all of that, you've got Angela Rain as well.

[00:09:49]>> What's going on?

[00:09:50]>> And also Ed Milliban. Let's not forget Ed Milliban. So, another roller coaster day for British politics as you say, we don't know exactly what's going on. And if this was an alternative universe, Alex, you know, you should have a prime minister less than two years into his job, Saki Starmmer, you know, on the day of the king's speech, the the the opening of uh parliament and and you know, just just sort of like going through all of the legislation he wants to get through and he should be able to get through with a massive majority that he got in July 2024. That's in a parallel universe. Here we are today on a significant day where you have the king's speech and the only thing that everyone is talking about is whether or not Kia Starm is going to survive the next 48 hours. It is absolutely extraordinary. So let's just go through it one by one. Um well come on to Ed Milliban. Remind me to come on to Ed Milliban before I disappear because I think there's some interesting stuff going on there. So all of the focus at the moment is on West Streeting. Front page of the times they talk about a showdown between star and streeting.

[00:10:45]That is because West Streeting is ideally placed to replace Kia Stalmer because he's in the cabinet. He's an elected MP which Andy Bernham is not.

[00:10:55]He's got a problem though that the left of the party in terms of the MPs in the membership are not a fan of West Streeting. So there's no guarantee that if he were to trigger some kind of leadership contest that he would necessarily win because there are people who to be blunt don't like him. Right.

[00:11:10]And also as the timing of this, it would be absolutely outrageous for him this morning to trigger a leadership campaign ahead of the king's speech. That would just be an insult to our monarchy and our king. So you've got that going on.

[00:11:20]Uh it'll be fascinating to find out if he does walk downing street and waves to Ellie on the way in or whether or not he finds a a back doorway maybe through the cabinet office to go and see Kier Stalmer. Um because again it's a distraction on a day when we have the king speech. You've also got Angela Raina who we know has been on maneuvers but she is hamstrung at the moment as we all know because we talked about this on GB news with this ongoing investigation uh by HMRC cuz you know despite being housing secretary she got terribly confused over stamp duty. So consequently until that investigation is done she's not free to necessarily make a move. Who else have we got? Let's talk about Andy Burnham. Uh this is a guy who is desperate to be leader of the Labour party and prime minister. Remember in the past he was part of two leadership bids. Uh he lost out to Ed Milliband and he lost out to Jeremy Corbyn. So this guy is desperate to do it. Now it's interesting we hear this this word on the street that potentially there's a seat that a Labour MP and incumbent's going to stand down in and allow Andy Burnham uh to potentially stand. As you've rightly suggested and Tom suggested and Ellie the problem is he needs to get NEC approval. Let's just work on the basis that he does get NEC approval because Starry is so weak now that he can't block Burnham standing again like he did last time in Gorton and Denton. There's no guarantee if there's going to be a bi-election that Andy Burnham will get in as a Labor MP.

[00:12:42]If you look at what happened last Thursday on May the 7th, the local election results, particularly in Greater Manchester, there's no guarantee that despite his his personal brand, the king of the north, he is going to storm in in into, you know, becoming an MP in that area.

[00:12:57]>> It's turquoise reform and it's green.

[00:12:59]>> It is that that is the battle. Um, so there's no guarantee that even if he does trigger a bi-election because someone stands down that necessarily he will become the Labor MP for that area.

[00:13:09]And let's just remember whilst the psycho psycho drama is going on the person who picks up the tab for this is a British taxpayer because if he does go there's going to have to be a election and there's a bi-election as well and who pays the price for that we all do.

[00:13:23]Whilst Labour squables over who's going to be leader.

[00:13:25]>> Yeah it's certainly not looking good for for old Andy Bham. You'd also think Labour MPs would look at the makeup of Manchester now and go has he really done such a great job unlike Wes Streeting who's managed to hold his backyard.

[00:13:39]Yeah, >> with his local council he's won that area. Andy Burnham has lost Manchester at least in the local elections. I know he's still the mayor, but it doesn't bode well. If he was doing such a great job, you might see people coming out and voting at Labor in those areas. Let's get on to Ed Milliban, though.

[00:13:54]>> Yeah. So, I think this is this is this is the bit of the wild card and I think this is really interesting. If we see streeting trigger something this afternoon, because I think if he's going to do it, he'll do it either this afternoon or tomorrow morning. Let the king's speech just settle down. Let the dust settle, etc. If Streeting were to say, I I think I'm going to run against Starmmer, this is where I think you'll see Ed Milliban chuck his hat into the ring because Ed Milliban represents the soft left side of the Labour party against Streeting's right of center part of the Labour party. Um I heard a whisper yesterday that Ed Milliban's already spoken to some of his mates in the unions to to find out whether or not there's money available to back him in the leadership contest and the answer is yes. So he's getting his ducks in a row.

[00:14:34]So my and listen you know more than most people uh predictions in politics is a mugs game right but if we were going to be mugs um if streeting were to run this afternoon or tomorrow morning and make that announcement I think we'll see Ed Milliband announce his his attempt to become the next leader >> there were rumors that he has told cabinet his friends in cabinet that he would stand if west street trigger so clearly not a happy united bunch that we're told that they are. And can I just make the point? Um I I've been around the block enough times when Ed Milliband or his allies say he has no interest in doing the job, it's guaranteed that he is.

[00:15:10]>> Isn't that he's running?

[00:15:11]>> Isn't Isn't that just politics? I don't want to be prime minister. So they all say let's also talk about what might happen today in the king's speech.

[00:15:18]There's there's a legislative agenda to get put out today. This could this save the prime minister? Could this be radical enough to save him?

[00:15:25]>> Well, I suppose it could do. I mean you we don't know the exact contents of the king's speech. I mean there's speculation there'll be stuff in there uh regarding closer ties to the European Union. Uh maybe something to do with digital ID. Remember that wasn't in the Labour Party manifesto but it looks like Labor cracking ahead with that and and the nationalization of British Steel though to be fair that's not particularly new. I mean for the last year we've been funding British Steel and running it. I mean, as I said at the beginning of our chat, Alex, this should be a day where Star should be the focus of attention going, look, this is what I'm laying out for the good of the country, and it's been completely overshadowed by whether or not he's going to be in a job inside the next 48 hours.

[00:16:04]>> Yeah, absolutely bonkers stuff. And I have seen some forward on what this uh what this speech might be. It does beg the question whether you're going to he's going to loing indeed is going to lose some of those MPs that might have backed him if they go today. You know, oh, this isn't the worst I've heard.

[00:16:19]Maybe this is the most radical. Maybe we force the prime minister's hand enough that this king speech is going to make it. Who knows, Duncan? We will we will find out throughout the course of today.

[00:16:28]Duncan, thank you very much for joining me. You'll see him again uh very shortly.