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Former UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting has thrown his support behind Andy Burnham in the Labour leadership contest, ending his own bid for the top job in a move that could prove decisive in the battle to succeed Keir Starmer.
In a letter published on House of Commons headed paper, Streeting praised Starmer’s record, crediting him with leading Labour to a general election victory and keeping Britain out of the war in Iran, but said the outgoing Prime Minister had made “the right decision to stand down.”
Streeting, who resigned from Cabinet in May after losing confidence in Starmer’s leadership, said he had spent the intervening weeks speaking with former councillors, activists, and voters in areas Labour had lost, listening to why the party was “losing the fight to nationalists in every corner of the country.”
He outlined his own vision for Britain: a plan centred on “progressive capitalism,” leadership in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, energy security, stronger alliances with democracies worldwide, and a new Special Relationship with Europe. But rather than take those ideas into a contest against Burnham, Streeting said he was now convinced there was “a place for those ideas under his leadership.”
Burnham had already won the Makerfield by-election with over 24,900 votes, a commanding margin that triggered fresh calls for Starmer to outline a plan for his departure, and Streeting’s endorsement now consolidates momentum behind the Greater Manchester mayor as the race’s frontrunner.
“We could spend the summer exaggerating small differences, or we can roll up our sleeves and help him deliver the change our Party and our country needs,” Streeting wrote. “That is the choice that I am making.”
Streeting’s exit from the race narrows the field significantly and hands Burnham a major boost heading into what promises to be a defining summer for the Labour Party.
