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As calls grow louder for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to resign, speculation is shifting to who could take over as leader of the ruling Labour Party.
Any leadership race would be decided by party members, not the public. But none of the names in circulation has overwhelming support across the party.
Wes Streeting: The Blairite hopeful
At 43, health secretary Wes Streeting has been tipped as a future leader for years. He counts many of the MPs pushing for Starmer’s exit among his own backers.
Streeting was everywhere during the 2024 election campaign, and colleagues see him as one of Labour’s sharpest communicators. He sits on the party’s right wing, has praised Tony Blair, and has said he wants the top job.
His roots are in working-class East London. Both his parents were teenagers when he was born. He grew up in a flat on a housing estate he once called “grim” and went to state schools.
After Cambridge, he entered parliament in 2015. He is openly gay; his partner works in communications.
A possible weak spot: Streeting initially defended Peter Mandelson after the Labour grandee lost his post as US ambassador over links to Jeffrey Epstein. Streeting denies being close to Mandelson.
Angela Rayner: The voice of the left
Former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, 46, remains a favourite of Labour’s left wing, thanks in part to her blunt speaking style. Before Starmer delivered a widely panned speech on Monday, Rayner had already signalled her unease.
The Guardian reported that while Rayner’s supporters say she is not actively campaigning for the leadership, she is ready if the moment comes.
Rayner grew up in social housing in northern England, left school with no qualifications and became a single mother at 16. She was a trade unionist before becoming an MP in 2015 and was elected Labour’s deputy leader in 2020.
YouGov polling puts her as the second most popular Labour politician, behind only Manchester mayor Andy Burnham. But an unresolved tax dispute that cost her her job last year could stand in her way.
Rayner has three children. One son has a severe disability.
Andy Burnham: The man they call ‘king of the North’
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, 56, has been viewed as a potential leadership challenger for years, though he has already tried and failed twice to win the top job.
Burnham is seen as representing Labour’s “soft left.” He became an MP in 2001 and served as health minister under Gordon Brown. He left Westminster in 2017 to become mayor, earning his nickname along the way. He won re-election in 2024.
He has clashed with Starmer over welfare cuts and warned of a “climate of fear” inside Labour. But he cannot return to parliament without winning a by-election, and the party recently blocked him from standing in one after he posted about it on X.
Burnham is married to a Dutch-born wife and has three children. He told Huffington Post he is “Catholic by upbringing” but “not particularly religious now.”
Other names in the frame
Several serving ministers could also step in, possibly as caretaker leaders. Foreign secretary Yvette Cooper, 57; defence secretary John Healey, 57; energy secretary Ed Miliband; and junior armed forces minister Al Carns, 46, have all been mentioned.
Miliband led Labour in opposition after beating his own brother David in a leadership contest. He resigned after a crushing election defeat in 2015.
Carns, a former commando who entered parliament in 2024, has been described by some MPs as “a leftfield candidate,” according to The Independent.
