Wes Streeting has announced he will stand in a Labour leadership contest as he made his opening pitch to become prime minister with a call for Britain to rejoin the European Union.
Speaking publicly for the first time since his resignation from the cabinet, the former health secretary warned Labour must stop being afraid to tackle the big political issues if it is to “smash” Reform at a general election.
If not, Labour risks becoming the “handmaidens of Nigel Farage and the breakup of the United Kingdom”, he said.
In a speech to the Progress think tank’s conference, he twisted the knife in Sir Keir Starmer’s government, saying it had been too “timid” – and urged his party to admit Brexit was a “catastrophic” mistake, to confront racism “not explain it” and to fight tech giants.
His stance on Brexit will put pressure on Andy Burnham just as he seeks to fight a crunch by-election in a red wall seat. Reports suggested Mr Burnham might drop his call to reverse Brexit – while still arguing in favour of closer ties with the EU – as he tries to win Makerfield, which voted to leave the EU in 2016.
Mr Burnham told last year’s Labour Party conference he wanted the UK to rejoin the bloc, saying, “I hope it happens in my lifetime… People prosper more when they’re part of unions. That’s my belief, and I’ll say it clearly.”
However, allies of the Mayor of Greater Manchester suggested he was not going to be “going big on Europe” in his pitch to voters.
Mr Burnham said his push to become leader was a moment to “reclaim the Labour Party, to save it from where it’s been” as he said he did not blame anyone for leaving the party.
However, a new poll showed voters are split on his prospects; the survey, by YouGov, found 31 per cent nationwide believe the mayor does currently look like a prime minister in waiting – but almost the same number, 27 per cent, think he does not. And, more than two in five, 42 per cent, are unsure he’s got what it takes. In his political backyard of northern England, the figures are 38 vs 27 per cent.
Labour now faces a wait to see if Mr Burnham can secure a seat in parliament – and if he can subsequently trigger a Labour leadership contest with the backing of at least 81 Labour MPs.
In his scathing criticism of Sir Keir’s government, Mr Streeting said Labour had conducted a “dishonest leadership contest” that was “followed by an overcautiousness in opposition”.
“Interesting policy ideas couldn’t be floated because we were too afraid of what the Tories might say, so we said nothing.” The result was a party that arrived in government underprepared and “lacking clarity of vision and direction”, he said, leading to the early “catastrophe” of cutting the winter fuel allowance for millions of pensioners.
In government, backbenchers had been “scolded” for backing interesting ideas, such as banning smartphones in schools.
And he attacked the response to the last far-right march on the streets of London, saying that “ministers were sent out by No 10 with a media script to explain the march, rather than condemn it”.
He warned the party that it would not find radical solutions by ignoring ideas in an attempt to problem-solve “as though government is the same as management consultancy”.
When it came to Brexit, leaving the European Union was a “catastrophic mistake”, he said as he called for a new special relationship with the bloc, arguing that Britain’s future lies with Europe, “and one day back in” the EU.
He also attacked tech giants, who he said had destroyed shared truths and used algorithms to amplify “the worst of us”, arguing: “We have chosen to hand the pen to tech moguls in Silicon Valley to write our future for us. It’s time to take the pen back.”
Westminster waited with bated breath this week to see if the health secretary would quit and launch a leadership bid against Sir Keir. In the end, he quit, but his formal challenge never emerged.
Within hours of his resignation, attention turned to Mr Burnham, who revealed that Labour MP Josh Simons was prepared to resign his seat to trigger a by-election, opening a path to enter Westminster and, possibly, No 10.
