Potential candidates emerge for top UK Labour Party spot

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As embattled British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, faces a likely leadership contest, several rivals are getting into position to stand against him to lead the Labour Party and the country.

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If a leadership race is triggered, the winner will be selected by the party membership. Here are the possible contenders:

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• Wes Streeting –

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The 43-year-old rising Labour star resigned as health minister on Thursday with a barbed message saying he had “lost confidence” in Starmer.

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He urged debate on the party’s future direction with the “best possible field of candidates”, rather than launching a solo bid.

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Streeting, whose full name is Wesley, was one of the most visible Labour figures during the 2024 election campaign and hailed as one of its best communicators. Streeting is popular on the party’s right.

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He comes from a working-class background, growing up on an east London municipal housing estate he has described as “grim” and attending a state school.

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Streeting has talked about his grandfather being an armed robber who knew notorious London gangsters, the Kray Brothers. After studying at Cambridge University, he was elected an MP in 2015.

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He came out as gay while a student. His partner is a communications adviser.

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In a potentially damaging connection, Streeting initially defended Labour grandee Peter Mandelson when he was sacked as US ambassador over his association with US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

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Streeting has denied that he was close friends with Mandelson.

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• Angela Rayner –

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Former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner hinted at standing this week when she announced she has resolved a tax issue that led her to leave the government.

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Rayner is well-liked on Labour’s left wing and known for her straight-talking style.

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The 46-year-old is an outlier in a country long dominated by a ruling class disproportionately educated at private schools and Oxford and Cambridge universities.

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She grew up in social housing in northern England and left school at 16 when she became a single mother.

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A trade unionist before being elected to parliament in 2015, she became Labour’s number two in 2020.

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She resigned last year over unpaid property taxes, but said Thursday she had paid up and been cleared of deliberate wrongdoing.

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Rayner has three children. One of her sons has a serious disability.

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• Andy Burnham –

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Popular mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, needs to become an MP before any leadership bid and has announced his intention to stand in a by-election.

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He said he wanted to return to parliament because “much bigger change is needed at a national level”.

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The 56-year-old, seen as representing Labour’s “soft left”, became an MP in 2001 and served as health minister under Gordon Brown.

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After twice standing unsuccessfully for party leader, he left parliament in 2017 to become mayor of the northern England metropolis.

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He has twice been re-elected mayor, most recently in 2024, gaining the nickname “king of the North”.

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Born near Liverpool, he joined the Labour Party as a teenager before studying at Cambridge.

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He has openly opposed Starmer over welfare cuts and warned of a “climate of fear” in the party.

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Burnham has said he wants to stand as MP in Makerfield, northwest England, and is expected to be selected by Labour.

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He has a Dutch-born wife and three children and told Huffington Post that he is “Catholic by upbringing” but “not particularly religious now”.

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• Keir Starmer –

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Starmer will automatically be a candidate if a leadership race is triggered and has insisted he will not step down.

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The 63-year-old became prime minister two years ago, after winning a general election landslide, promising to “tread more lightly” on people’s lives after 14 years of Conservative rule.

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Internationally, he has won praise for standing up to US President Donald Trump over the Iran war and maintaining European support for Ukraine.

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But at home, he has made unpopular moves to cut welfare, which were watered down by left-wing lawmakers, and increase business costs amid a cost-of-living crisis.

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He has struggled against the rise of the hard-right Reform UK party, led by Nigel Farage, and Labour suffered humiliating defeats in local elections this month.

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Starmer has one of the lowest popularity ratings ever among prime ministers at just 19 percent, according to a YouGov poll.

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Born in London, he had a successful career as a human rights lawyer and chief state prosecutor and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

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A keen flautist and Arsenal fan, he became an MP in 2015, succeeding Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader five years later.

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• Other possibilities –

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Other candidates could emerge with speculation centred on energy minister Ed Miliband and junior armed forces minister Al Carns — while neither has confirmed.

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Miliband, 56, became Labour leader in opposition in 2010, beating his own brother, David. He resigned after the party suffered a severe defeat in the 2015 election.

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Carns, a decorated former commando, became an MP in 2024. Allies have suggested the 46-year-old relative unknown would step forward if someone else “fires the starting gun”.

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AFP

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