Wes Streeting has refused to rule out ambitions to become prime minister after allies of Sir Keir Starmer accused him of plotting a leadership challenge.
The Health Secretary did not deny that he would like to lead Labour in the future as he said he had to ‘back himself’ following a vicious internal briefing war.
It comes after allies of the Prime Minister told journalists earlier this week that Sir Keir would fight off any challenger, singling out Mr Streeting.
The move to shore up the PM’s position backfired spectacularly after Mr Streeting complained of a ‘toxic’ and ‘juvenile’ culture in Downing Street.
Sir Keir was forced into a humiliating phone call to his Health Secretary to insist the briefing had not come from within Number 10.
He later held a farcical ‘whitewash’ inquiry in which he said he had been assured that no one in his team had briefed against Mr Streeting.
The embarrassing episode left the PM exposed and has prompted speculation about his position after a difficult Budget and local elections next year.
It has also led to questions about the future of his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney after suggestions he was behind the briefing.
The Health Secretary Wes Streeting (pictured) did not deny that he would like to lead Labour in the future as he said he had to ‘back himself’ following a vicious internal briefing war
This week, allies of Sir Keir Starmer (pictured) accused Mr Streeting of plotting a leadership challenge against his boss
During a phone-in with LBC’s Nick Ferrari yesterday morning, Mr Streeting, emboldened by the furore, was asked if he hoped to become prime minister ‘one day’.
Mr Streeting replied: ‘I’m very happy doing the job that I’m doing, to be honest.’
He was played a clip from 2018 in which Labour politicians were asked who they thought would be PM in a decade and, while others named then-leader Jeremy Corbyn, he confidently said: ‘It will probably be me.’
Laughing off the remarks yesterday, Mr Streeting said: ‘As it’s often been said, it will be my sense of humour that will ultimately do for me one day.
‘But if you don’t back yourself, who will? That’s my advice to the kids in my constituency.’
Asked if the public could still trust Sir Keir and Mr McSweeney following a difficult week, he said: ‘Yes, I think you can. I did wake up yesterday morning feeling like I’d been in some sort of fever dream reflecting on this week’s events. It was quite bizarre.’
On his conversation with Sir Keir, Mr Streeting said: ‘I’m not telling you anything. It’s as nice as usual.
‘I think, to be honest, the Prime Minister and I are both in the same boat here at being completely frustrated. Because this is a total distraction.
‘The season finale of The Traitors is over and it’s time we focused on the news.’
