Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk. With Aviva Insurance.
Allies of Wes Streeting, the British Health Secretary, have said he is preparing to stand down amid deep frustration with the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's leadership and he could mount a formal challenge for the leadership as early as today. For more on this, I'm joined on the line by LBC reporter Henry Riley and in a moment I'll speak to Mick Lynch, trade unionist.
But first, Henry, to you first. Little movement this morning, apart from what we hear about Angela Rayner now being cleared by Revenue. So that clears the path for her somewhat, doesn't it?
Yes, exactly. Everything's happening, but nothing's happening.
Chapter 2: What is the current situation with Wes Streeting and Keir Starmer?
It's very much a waiting game. It's been quite bizarre, Clare. I mean, in the period of 24 hours, we had a King's speech. We had briefing that the health secretary was about to resign. We had Nigel Farage speaking. investigated by the Standards Commissioner for a £5 million gift that he was given. We have had this morning Angela Rayner cleared by HMRC. I mean, it really is all happening.
And yes, I mean, ultimately, we had this briefing yesterday from West Streeting, right at the very moment, by the way, as the King was about to deliver the priorities of the government of which he is a member and a leading member as Health Secretary. So no doubt that's gone badly with Sir Keir Starmer's
His spokesperson yesterday quite curiously saying that the Prime Minister still has full confidence in West Streeting. However, Claire, that is often the kiss of death because Keir Starmer had full confidence in Lord Mandelson, full confidence in Morgan McSweeney, full confidence in the now sacked Cabinet Secretary Chris Wormald.
And all three of those were sacked within a few weeks of him making those remarks. It really is a waiting game now.
People waiting for Wes Treating to formally declare, although interesting, some of his allies on the sort of media rounds this morning now suggesting that that might not necessarily happen because they're worried that he wouldn't have the support and that if there was to be... And the way we talk about this is quite simplistic, isn't it? But if there was to be a sort of candidate on his left, i.e.
Angela Rayner, they would win. And that's the worry among some of his allies.
And she could well be a candidate now, couldn't she?
She could. And I mean, this has been a real albatross around her neck, this HMRC investigation. And despite the fact that going on, I mean, Keir Starmer did say relatively recently, even though she hadn't been cleared at that point, that he wants to see her return to the cabinet table. There's an awful lot of love in the Labour Party for Angela Rayner.
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Chapter 3: How is Angela Rayner's clearance affecting the leadership race?
The question mark Around some, though, is whether that would translate to the country. And, I mean, ultimately, just to remind your listeners, the sort of bare bones of the story was that she had a £800,000 home in Brighton. She didn't declare it as her second home because she has a complex...
uh arrangement because her son has learning difficulties and so it was a it was in a trust and and she didn't quite um know that she had to declare it as her second home because of those complex living arrangements ultimately she took it to a lawyer the lawyer said you actually owe 40 000 pounds worth of council tax which she's now paid but ultimately she's been cleared as well so the path is clear for her
And speaking with The Guardian and ITV today, ruling out any sort of deal with Andy Burnham, which was much spoken about over the last few days.
The smart money was on her supporting Andy Burnham. But if Andy Burnham throws his hat into the race, it slows the whole thing down potentially. And I don't see how he can enter that race if you have people who have seats and who can run. I mean, he's got a long road to go before he can say, yep, I can be leader of this party.
Oh, absolutely. I mean, as you said, he's not even an MP. And the last time he tried to be an MP was in a recent by-election we had in his sort of broad area in Greater Manchester, in Gorton and Denton. And he wasn't even selected because he was effectively blocked from getting onto the ballot paper. He's been away from Westminster for some time, and I think his stock has risen.
Some say that he abandoned the Jeremy Corbyn days. Others say that he was diverting his attention elsewhere. But undeniably, his poll ratings are very good, absolutely. Whether he really has the Midas touch that those supporters of his really think, it remains to be seen. But
He has a high stock, but ultimately, I mean, there were sources close to Andy Burnham briefing, I mean, me and a few other outlets, that there was an MP who is willing to stand aside and let Andy Burnham take their seat.
So you presume that could be on the cards, but ultimately, I mean, a by-election, you've got to wait a few months for that to even be declared, for the writ to be issued in Parliament. It's all very messy. And of course, Clare... there's no guarantee Labour would win.
Farage would be in like Flynn to try and sort of run the next general election in that by-election.
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Chapter 4: What are the implications of Wes Streeting potentially stepping down?
And as was mentioned, there's talk of him. He's obviously a dynamic person in the northwest of England, in the Manchester and Liverpool region. And he's well known in both of those cities. And some of those were safe Labour seats, very, very safe. But you've got to persuade somebody to stand down and give up their career as a politician on your behalf.
And then Keir Starmer is in control because he can say whether, effectively, whether Andy Burnham can stand as a Labour candidate. And then he's got to go and win it. And the weird thing would be all of these other candidates would have to say, I support Andy Burnham in this election because he is the official Labour candidate. And then he's going to try and defeat them in a secondary election.
But the feasibility of that happening over a period of two or three months is quite remote, I think. So we'll have to see how that plays out.
And I was watching you on Sky the other night on Cathy Newman's programme, and it seemed to me that you were agnostic over who should take over, as long as it wasn't Keir Starmer, because you believe that he hasn't defined what Labour is, that people are very confused about what the Labour stands for under him. Is that right?
Well, Keir Starmer stood on the one-word manifesto, as he called it, change. And what people aren't feeling is a change or an improvement. So what isn't happening in these sort of demi-hustings that people are doing now with these briefings to journalists, nobody's setting out the five key things they would do. What would they actually do about housing? What would they do about employment?
What would they do about the economy? What would they do about public spending? Nobody's put out a mini-manifesto.
And if it's just about, you know, I like this person, but I don't like that person or he's not dynamic enough, it could be that we have a fairly stale contest because they're all stuck with the spending limits that Labour declared before the election, which were the ones that the Tories had.
And that's put them in a straitjacket of not being able to dole out the cash in certain regions or in certain sectors of the economy to make people feel better. So it could be a fairly stale debate if somebody doesn't do something radical.
Given that Angela Rayner has been freed of the shackles of the taxman as of this morning, she seems to be that person who has that kind of energy. And if we remember her in the last campaign and in the early days of this government, before I think the tensions between her and Keir Starmer became apparent, she really sort of embodied what that change was. Do you agree?
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Chapter 5: Who are the potential candidates for the Labour leadership?
Her backstory is very strong. She was a young single mother from a council estate who left school at 16 and brought herself up and came through the trade union movement as a shop steward to become a leading politician and a deputy prime minister. And she was done in, frankly, I believe, by some people inside the Labour Party who didn't like
that kind of story and somebody from that background coming to the fore rather than a more familiar professional politician, even though that's what she is now. So, you know, I think that the hand of Morgan McSweeney and Mandelson were behind the leaking of that story, which ultimately the tax story, that's my belief, that news had to come from within the Labour Party, I believe.
And the same with another leading woman that was the transport secretary was put out of her position from the soft left. So this has been going on for quite a while since Starmer came to power. But now that Mandelson and McSweeney aren't there, I think the shackles are off and people are able to come out and say, I'm opposed to this and I want to have a change of direction. So we'll have to see.
But somebody's people have to put their cards on the table.
and let the race start otherwise we'll just be in this sort of phony war I know it's a bizarre situation but I just mean that given that she has now settled the issue with revenue that now might be the time but I see even in that interview she did with The Guardian and ITN she said she was open to running for the leadership but that she wouldn't trigger a contest which still seems she's open yeah I don't know why she would say that yeah which means you can take part as a voter or take part
So people are hedging their bets. There must be an awful lot of WhatsApp groups and all sorts of phone calls going on down in Westminster to all these people. One, trying to get people to stand aside. You have to get, I think it's 81 MPs to nominate you on a nomination paper. And there are 405 Labour MPs, which is an enormous amount. So there's a lot of phoning around to do.
And it could be, there is a scenario where People may not get the backing, and some people say, look, we're not happy with this. We might have to carry on with Keir Starmer, which will make him a bit of a winged bird, really, and we'll have to see how he gets on with that. But the verdict of the people last week was they don't want Keir Starmer.
They want a change, and if Labour can't even manage to deliver that change, they'll be in real problems. But it's very serious. They have to get their act together.
Otherwise, we'll have the prospect of Labour collapsing and there's a very strong possibility of a reformed government, a nationalist government on a very right-wing agenda, which will do severe damage to this country, I think, and to all the communities that are in it.
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