Lucy Fisher

It's very curious.

And ahead of the meeting, both sides made clear they weren't going to brief.

They wanted to respect the monarch and not cause any embarrassment to the palace as the king was en route to Westminster to read out the king's speech, the legislative agenda for the next session of parliament.

um and um you know after the meeting you know it's when the briefing started to come out that that streeting would resign today and trigger a leadership contest now there was lots of um to and fro and and theorizing among mps yesterday i spoke to some who thought actually it was downing street that leaked that idea or briefed it in order to try and bounce streeting into going today or or or appearing to have bottled it or not have the numbers so

There's just so much intrigue in Westminster that every small move is giving rise to all sorts of theories.

Well, the King of the North, again, seems to be in a spot of bother, potentially.

His allies repeatedly briefing that it's all good, he's got a seat locked up, he can do it, he can come back to Parliament.

But the more days drag on without him being able to announce which seat it is,

And indeed, journalists, myself included, ringing around likely candidates to ask them, are you going to step down?

Them saying no, you know, it leaves a real conundrum.

Like, you know, is there a seat and is there an MP who's willing to give up their livelihood, as you say, their vocation for serving their local community for Burnham?

That is fair to say.

He's Labour's most popular figure nationally, which is what's given a lot of, a big boost to his potential campaign.

Well, that's why some in Westminster believe that any contest would lack legitimacy if Andy Burnham weren't in it.

And if there were contests which West Streeting were to win, theoretically, some Burnham backers have been briefing that they would then spark another leadership contest when he is back in to challenge Streeting.

So I think there is a growing sense that any contest really has to include him.

She did.

I mean, she's very much of the soft left, a close ally of Ed Miliband and Andy Burnham.

And indeed, you know, there has been some speculation this week that she could be the soft left candidate if Burnham can't find his way back into Parliament.

She's sort of, I think, told friends that's an unlikely scenario.