The power seat in the UK is again braced for a change of hands as Prime Minister Keir Starmer is likely to step down from his post, less than two years after he came to power. Though there hasn’t been an official confirmation on exact date of Starmer’s resignation, some reports suggest that this could happen as soon as Thursday.
Starmer’s struggle for his political future comes after flurry of mishaps within the UK government, including the Labour Party’s disastrous performance in the recent local elections in which the party lost almost 1,500 councillors.
In the backdrop of these slip-ups, Starmer is facing mounting pressure from some of the ministers and nearly 90 MPs to step down, thought Starmer had a few days ago said he would “get on with governing”, the BBC reported.
In this scenario, some of the top contenders for the UK PM post include former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, former health secretary Wes Streeting and Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham.
Here is what we know about the frontrunners:
Wes Streeting
One of the frontrunners to lead the UK is former health secretary Wes Streeting whose resignation has put Starmer’s future in peril.
He has shown inclination towards holding the power seat and said in his first speech since leaving the government that he will stand in any UK leadership contest.
Speaking at a Labour conference in London on Saturday, Streeting said the party’s disastrous local election results were “unprecedented,” and warned that nationalists are in power “in every corner of the UK”, Bloomberg reported.
Progressives in the country are “increasingly losing faith that Labour is capable of rising to the challenge,” Streeting was quoted as saying, reiterating that the party needs to see “a battle of ideas,” not personalities. In the wide-ranging speech, he also called for a new special relationship with the European Union, saying Britain’s future lies within Europe and “one day, back in the European Union.”
Andy Burnham
The popular mayor of Greater Manchester is being seen as a potential rival for Starmer and he also enjoys a strong backing from the Labour Party. But he has hurdles to clear as Burnham first needs to return to Parliament, where he could mount a challenge to Starmer’s leadership.
Burnham is considered as Starmer’s biggest would-be rival. One of the reasons could be that he’s perceived to be to the political left of the prime minister. He has earned the moniker “King of the North”, with reference to the popular Jon Snow character in “Game of Thrones”, given his fierce backing of northern England.
He marked big wins in three mayoral polls since 2017.
Angela Rayner
Former deputy premier Angela Rayner’s path to top UK post has been cleared after she announced on Thursday morning that she had been cleared of wrongdoing in an investigation into her tax affairs, Bloomberg reported. She has had a remarkable journey as she dropped out from school when she was just 16 and grew up in poverty.
She started working as a care worker and gradually got involved in trade union work that set her political career rolling, according to BBC. She was elected in the Greater Manchester constituency of Ashton-under-Lyne in 2015 and served in Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet.
