Sawt Falasteen - Labour politicians jockey for possible challenge to UK's Starmer

Both Streeting, who is popular on the right of the ruling Labour party, and the more left-wing Burnham -- a former minister under prime minister Gordon Brown -- stopped short of formally announcing they were running for the top job.

But Streeting, 43, called for the "best possible field of candidates" to run to replace the embattled Starmer, while Burnham, 56, vowed to "change Labour for the better and make it a party you can believe in again".

Their comments came hours after ex-deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, a left-wing figurehead among Labour's grassroots, announced that she had cleared obstacles preventing her from standing in any future race.

Rayner, 46, revealed UK tax authorities had cleared her of deliberate wrongdoing in a tax affair which had forced her to quit the government last September.

The day's dramatic developments plunged Starmer's faltering premiership deeper into crisis after numerous missteps and months of rumours about imminent leadership challenges.

Starmer, 63, led Labour to victory in July 2024, ending 14 years of Conservative rule, but is now fighting for his political life.

- 'Change our country' -

Burnham, who was an MP from 2001 to 2017, revealed he will try to stand as Labour's candidate in an upcoming by-election in northwest England, which could pave the way for his eventual leadership run.

He is currently unable to mount a challenge without a seat in the UK parliament.

Announcing the high-stakes move, Burnham said he wanted to return as an MP because "much bigger change is needed at a national level".

The by-election in Makerfield -- which sits within the Greater Manchester city-region that Burham has led as mayor since 2017 -- will only happen because its current Labour MP announced Thursday he was resigning.

"I am standing aside so that Andy Burnham can return to his home, fight to re-enter Parliament, and if elected, drive the change our country is crying out for," outgoing lawmaker Josh Simons said.

Labour's National Executive Committee (NEC), which selects the party's candidates, blocked Burnham from standing in another by-election earlier this year.

If it accepted him this time, it would trigger an election for the Manchester mayoralty, which the party could struggle to retain based on disastrous local and regional elections for Labour last week.

But Nigel Farage, leader of the anti-immigration Reform UK which topped last week's contests, said the party will "throw absolutely everything" at the vote.

- 'Lost confidence' -

Streeting's resignation was the first by a senior minister. He said he had "lost confidence" in Starmer's leadership.

"It is now clear that you will not lead the Labour Party into the next general election", scheduled for 2029, he told Starmer in a resignation letter shared.

Streeting accused him of lacking vision and said a debate about what comes next for Labour "needs to be broad, and it needs to be the best possible field of candidates".

Starmer, who was yet to announce a replacement Thursday evening, replied in a published letter that it was "incumbent on all of us to rise to what I see as a battle for the soul of our nation".

"We must deliver on all of the promises we made to the country, including our promise to turn the page on the chaos that was roundly rejected by the British people at the last general election," he added.

It remained unclear whether Streeting has the required support of 81 Labour MPs -- 20 percent of the party in parliament -- to trigger an immediate contest.

But last Thursday's election results, which saw huge gains for Reform UK and the left-wing populist Greens, have compounded months of internal anger towards Starmer.

That had intensified over his decision to appoint -- and sack -- ex-Jeffrey Epstein associate Peter Mandelson as his US envoy.

Labour lost control of the devolved Welsh parliament for the first time and failed to make up ground on the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) in the parliament in Edinburgh.

The numbers highlight bitter divisions emerging amongst the party's 403 MPs that would likely deepen during any contest, which could last several months and distract the party from governing.

T.Ibrahim--SF-PST