Newspaper Reader awards the “the crown” to the James Heale!

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May 14, 2026

Ethan Croft

Good morning. In the narrow window of time set by us excitable lobby journalists, the push to topple Keir Starmer failed when the sun set on Westminster yesterday: there was no “big beast” resignation from the cabinet and no leadership challenge launched.

The PM stood firm, telling cabinet to back him or sack him, and insouciantly started replacing the various parliamentary private secretaries and junior ministers who resigned yesterday in an effort to pressure him to go. The consensus of commentary vertiginously changed once again. It was not the end – perhaps Starmer had seen off the challenge.

But just as it was premature to say a challenge was make or break yesterday, it would be equally premature to say that he is safe. The King’s Speech today, in which the Labour government’s agenda for the next parliamentary session will be set out, has created an interlude in which all sides think it is polite to stay quiet.

The PM had a brief meeting with Wes Streeting this morning at No 10 but both sides are keeping schtum about what was said. We will have to wait until Thursday to see if there is a more concerted push from the ambitious Health Secretary, who is due to make a media intervention that day anyway because the NHS’s latest waiting-list data is being released.

An extra day could allow Streeting to get his ducks in a row. Note that his natural supporters on the right of the party are not yet united behind the idea of challenging Starmer right now – many of their names appeared in an open letter signed by 110 MPs yesterday pledging support for the Prime Minister.

The most damning development for Starmer’s long-term prospects was a statement from Labour’s 11 affiliated unions this morning. They declared: “It’s clear that the Prime Minister will not lead Labour into the next election, and at some stage a plan will have to be put in place for the election of a new leader.”

That’s every union, from the left-wingers of Sharon Graham’s Unite through to the once reliably leadership-supporting moderates at Usdaw and Unison. This puncturing of the life raft will prove more significant than any ministerial resignation we have seen so far.

Keir today, gone…?

by James Heale

It has been an utterly surreal day in parliament. This morning Wes Streeting’s allies briefed that the Health Secretary intends to resign tomorrow and challenge Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership. But this afternoon the Prime Minister stood at the despatch box giving his response to the King’s Speech, manfully ploughing on. On a day when constitutional nicety met with political reality, Starmer signalled that he intends to keep fighting until the bitter end.

Starmer is often viewed as a wooden parliamentarian, ill-attuned to the mood of the House. Yet such was the extent of the absurdity this afternoon that even he could successfully make light of his current situation. With almost 100 Labour MPs calling for him to quit, he made a joke at his own expense. Mentioning backbencher Naz Shah’s new book, he noted that it had been endorsed by ‘well over a hundred’ members of the House. ‘At last Mr Speaker,’ he said, ‘a list that we can all get behind.’ Streeting, sat near him on the frontbench, certainly enjoyed that one.

It was a moment of levity in an otherwise black day for the PM. Kemi Badenoch, speaking for the opposition, had fun at Starmer’s expense. The Tory leader asked why the government has ‘learnt no lessons’ from its time in power so far. ‘I suppose the Health Secretary has been a bit distracted lately, hasn’t he?’ she quipped, asking Streeting: ‘Why don’t you just do your job?’ She added that she felt ‘sorry for Labour backbenchers’, whose legacy will now be ‘breakfast clubs and Peter Mandelson’.

Outside the chamber, Labour MPs continue to plot. As Streeting’s conspirators plan their pitch, the soft left is completely split. Senior figures fret that Angela Rayner simply is not up to the job, amid concerns about her character and HMRC’s inquiry into her tax affairs. Andy Burnham, fresh from his train journey south, is meanwhile still not able to find a suitable parliamentary seat in which to stand. So there is increasingly momentum behind Ed Miliband – recognised by all wings as an effective minister – as the only viable candidate on the pitch who can take on Streeting.

The final word ought to go to Sir Ed Davey, who called today’s speech the ‘most surreal’ Humble Address he has ever experienced, out of the 23 he has heard. ‘Everyone in this House and everyone in the country knows this Prime Minister may soon not be in power,’ he said. Starmer knows that better than anyone else.

Newspaper Reader.