Wes Streeting Piles More Pressure On Keir Starmer In Wake Of Labour's By-Election Humiliation

Wes Streeting has piled more pressure on Keir Starmer by comparing Labour’s humiliation Caerphilly by-election defeat to the day the prime minister almost quit as party leader.

The health secretary said the result – which saw Labour receive just 11% of the vote in their former stronghold – was like a similar seismic loss in Hartlepool in 2021.

Starmer contemplated resigning after that defeat to the Tories, which came just a year after he had succeeded Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader.

In an interview with the Sunday Times, Streeting said the result in Caerphilly, where Plaid Cymru emerged victorious, was “this Labour government’s Hartlepool moment”.

However, he said he backed Starmer to turn around the party’s fortunes just as he had done four years ago.

He said: “When we were in opposition, we were shocked that Hartlepool — a town that had always been loyal to Labour — rejected us at the ballot box.

“Keir Starmer not only took that result on the chin, he took it to heart. And he used Hartlepool and the experience of Hartlepool to drive through the change in the Labour Party necessary to make it electable and capable of winning a general election that no one thought we would win.

“I have no doubt that, having done that before, Keir can do that again. We’ve got to take the message from Caerphilly not just on the chin, we’ve got to take it to heart — and we have got to change the way our Labour government drives change and delivers in just the same way we did in opposition after Hartlepool.”

HuffPost UK revealed on Saturday how increasing numbers of senior figures now believe Starmer’s time as prime minister is running out – with Streeting among the frontrunners to replace him.

One former minister said: “Wes is regularly in Strangers Bar chatting to MPs and doing favours for them – and he’s right to do so.”