Wes Streeting arrived at Downing Street on Wednesday to meet Keir Starmer, handing in a lengthy resignation letter that spans two pages and nearly 1,000 words. As with such missives, the subtext is as important as the substance. Here is what Streeting really meant.
1. 'I have delivered against the ambitious targets you set for me'
Streeting begins with a self-serving tone, but it is grounded in fact: on Thursday, news broke of the biggest fall in NHS England waiting lists in 17 years, excluding the Covid period. This paragraph and those that follow highlight his successes as health secretary, serving as a reminder to Labour MPs and members that he has run a large department and achieved change that voters notice.
2. 'Having lost confidence in your leadership … it would be dishonourable to [remain]'
About 300 words in, Streeting confirms he told Starmer during a brief meeting on Wednesday morning that he no longer backs him. Some reports claim Streeting also threatened a leadership challenge, but his team denies this, and the letter does not mention it. This omission is telling: despite allies' claims that he had the 80-plus MPs needed to trigger a contest, the letter strongly hints he does not.
3. 'Last week's election results were unprecedented'
Streeting gets to the core of why many Labour MPs believe Starmer must go. They fear that last week's elections proved Starmer has no plan to counter Reform UK, making a Nigel Farage-led government seem inevitable. This has caused deep worry among Labour MPs.
4. 'There are many reasons we could point to'
Streeting highlights Starmer's missteps: the debacle over limiting winter fuel payments for older people, on which the PM largely backtracked, and the 'island of strangers' speech, which some MPs say lost Labour voters to the left. The speech, echoing Enoch Powell, was later regretted by Starmer. Streeting, from Labour's right, condemns this speech as pandering to Reform supporters while pushing Labour voters toward the Greens.
5. 'Where we need vision, we have a vacuum. Where we need direction, we have drift'
This section is transparent and echoes other resignation letters: Starmer is seen as congenitally incremental and managerial, not the person for the task ahead.
6. 'The debate about what comes next … needs the best possible field of candidates'
Streeting tries to make a virtue of necessity. Lacking the MP support for an immediate contest, he appeals to Starmer to stand down and allow a full field of candidates. The call for a 'broad' field may be a request to allow Andy Burnham to fight a byelection, or simply an attempt to exit gracefully.
