Starmer's battle begins: PM challenged as Burnham and Streeting begin bids for takeover
Thursday saw several candidates launch their opening salvos of leadership campaigns.
Sir Keir Starmer's battle to stay Prime Minister has begun - after Andy Burnham launched another attempt to return to Westminster and Wes Streeting quit as health secretary.
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Thursday saw several candidates launch their opening salvos of leadership campaigns.
Mr Burnham announced his intention to be Labour's candidate in the upcoming Makerfield by-election.
The seat will be vacated by sitting Labour MP Josh Simons imminently, and the outgoing representative has already thrown his weight behind Mr Burnham as his successor.
Read More: Burnham 'has found Manchester seat' to allow him to challenge Starmer for Downing Street
The by-election announcement followed an excoriating attack by the former health secretary Wes Streeting in which he publicly derided the Prime Minister while resigning from his Cabinet post.
In a letter to Sir Keir Starmer, Streeting said he had "lost confidence" in the PM's leadership and that remaining in post would be "dishonourable and unprincipled".
Mr Streeting told Sir Keir it was “now clear that you will not lead the Labour Party into the next general election”.
He continued: "Labour MPs and Labour Unions want the debate about what comes next to be a battle of ideas, not of personalities or petty factionalism. It needs to be broad, and it needs the best possible field of candidates."
Mr Burnham and Mr Streeting also face a potential rival in former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, who announced yesterday that she had been cleared by HMRC over her tax affairs.
Ms Rayner, who was also the Housing Secretary before her resignation in September, faced criticism of her purchase of an £800,000 flat in Hove after it was reported that she underpaid the stamp duty by £40,000.
She has now revealed that she has settled the unpaid bill and has not faced any penalty by HMRC for the underpayment.
Ms Rayner welcomes HMRC's conclusion that there "wasn't any wrongdoing".
Sir Keir Starmer has already seemingly refused to go quietly and has reportedly declared that he will fight any leadership contest.
To formally kick off a challenge, a Labour MP must secure 81 named supporters.
Mr Streeting's allies say he has the number to trigger such a contest, but this claim has been disputed by those close to the Prime Minister.
Mr Burnham would likely be the favourite to take the keys to Downing Street if he can secure a Commons seat, but despite the endorsement of Josh Simons, he faces a battle from Reform to win the by-election.
Reform's leader Nigel Farage has already pledged to throw "everything" at depriving Labour of the Greater Manchester constituency.
Labour's governing National Executive Committee must also allow him to resign as the Mayor of Greater Manchester and be selected as the party's candidate.
He was controversially blocked from being the party's candidate for the Gorton & Denton by-election in February.
But he is understood to have secured support from the NEC since then.