FLASH
Shkruar nga PamfletiThe prime minister's intervention was typical of Starmer, a cautious return to procedures, but also an uncharacteristic show of force...
There’s an old saying about leadership contests: “If you’re shooting at the King, you better not miss.” But no one expected the starting signal to be given to Charles III. Just as the monarch was reading the King’s Speech in parliament on Wednesday, allies of Wes Streeting, the health secretary, dropped a political bombshell suggesting he was set to challenge Keir Starmer this week. “Yes, it’s inevitable,” said one.
The timing shocked MPs even from Streeting’s own wing. One cabinet minister declared that “having failed with his kamikaze punch, Wes has now undermined every one of his colleagues and shown a lack of respect for the King.” Tom Baldwin, Starmer’s biographer, accused Streeting of “obscuring” the government’s policy platform and “playing Westminster games.”
A day earlier, MPs and ministers who supported the health minister had come out in force to call for Starmer to resign, but Streeting himself seemed undecided about whether to enter the race. Insiders say his allies were divided on Tuesday. One described the rift as a conflict between “old Wes people” who doubted he had a realistic plan to win, and “factional radicals” from the ultra-Blairian think tank Progress who were urging him to “seize the moment.”
One ally says that “the Prime Minister entered the cabinet and thought: 'You know what? To hell with these people'”.
A former Downing Street adviser compared Streeting to “one of those World War I generals” who “sends his friends out to attack while he himself stays in the castle”. A cabinet minister said that “he is like the Grand Duke of York who takes people up the hill and then brings them back down again. There are a group of ministers who, I believe, have resigned on the promise of taking over from him. They can wait a long time”.
However, on Wednesday morning, after Streeting finally held a one-on-one meeting with Starmer that lasted just 16 minutes, he decided to act.
"Wes never got over the fact that it wasn't him who saved the Labour Party and won the election, but Keir and his team," said a senior Labour source, adding, "as soon as we came into government, he started plotting, thinking that everything would fall into his hands."
Megjithatë, Streeting nuk do ta ketë të lirë rrugën drejt Starmer. Një burim nga Downing Street tha se “Ed po organizohet gjithashtu.” Bëhet fjalë për Ed Miliband, ish-liderin e Labour dhe ministrin e Energjisë, i cili tani mund të duhet të mbajë shpresat e krahut të majtë të partisë. Ndërkohë, vetë Starmer “nuk po shkon askund”, sipas një aleati të afërt.
Në fillim të javës nuk ishte aspak e sigurt nëse Starmer do të qëndronte ende në detyrë për t’i rezistuar ndonjë sfide. Për disa çaste të martën në mëngjes, në sallën e kabinetit në Downing Street, portreti i Robert Walpole priste pasardhësin e tij të 57-të si kryeministër. “Të gjithë ishin ulur rreth tavolinës, por kishte një vend bosh, i vetmi me mbështetëse krahu”, kujton një ministër. Kur Starmer u ul, pak veta e dinin çfarë do të thoshte.
“Ai kishte atë që do ta quaja një qetësi të fortë, një vendosmëri prej çeliku”, shtoi ai.
Starmer mbajti “një fjalim mjaft të shkurtër”, duke pranuar se rezultatet e zgjedhjeve lokale ishin të këqija, por duke paralajmëruar se, në një kohë kur kostot e huamarrjes shtetërore po rriteshin, trazirat në lidership do të kishin “një kosto reale ekonomike për vendin dhe familjet”. Ai kaloi shpejt te rregullat e partisë. “Partia ka një proces për sfidimin e liderit dhe ai proces nuk është aktivizuar”, tha ai.
Një ministër kujton se “të gjithë e dinim se kjo i drejtohej një personi në sallë”. Të gjithë kthyen sytë nga Streeting.
Pak para nisjes së mbledhjes, deputeti i 81-të laburist kishte dalë hapur duke kërkuar që Starmer të largohej ose të caktonte datën e dorëheqjes së tij. Por rregullat parashikojnë që për të nisur një garë për lidershipin, 81 deputetë duhet të mbështesin një kandidat të vetëm të emëruar dhe ky prag nuk ishte arritur.
Ndërhyrja e kryeministrit ishte tipike për Starmer, një rikthim i kujdesshëm te procedurat, por njëkohësisht edhe një demonstrim force jo karakteristik për të. Sepse, sipas ministrave dhe këshilltarëve, Starmer kishte qenë shumë pranë dorëheqjes të hënën në mbrëmje. Aleatët e tij në kabinet, Richard Hermer, Prokurori i Përgjithshëm, dhe Steve Reed, ministri i Strehimit, besonin se ai po kërkonte një mënyrë dinjitoze për t’u larguar.
“Nuk njoh askënd që të ketë dalë nga ato biseda duke menduar se ai po rezistonte”, tha një burim i njohur me diskutimet. “Keir po vendoste si do të largohej, jo nëse do të largohej”. Një tjetër aleat i Starmerit në kabinet pranoi: “Situata dukej shumë e brishtë”. Sipas një këshilltari ministror: “Ai ishte pranë dorëheqjes, por pastaj Garda Pretoriane u mblodh rreth tij”.
Pika e kthesës erdhi pas një informacioni të publikuar në media të hënën pasdite, sipas të cilit ministrat Shabana Mahmood, Yvette Cooper dhe John Healey kishin shkuar në Downing Street për t’i kërkuar Starmerit të shpallte një kalendar largimi. Starmer “u tërbua”. Megjithatë, rrëfimi ishte në disa pika thelbësore i pasaktë.
While Cooper and Healey were not optimistic about Starmer’s long-term future, they insisted they had not asked for a departure date. The defence secretary urged the prime minister to stay in charge during the immediate crisis, partly because a NATO summit is due on July 7. “All of Keir’s thinking went out the window as soon as the claim emerged that the cabinet had turned on him. Because at that point it would have looked like he had been dragged out,” said a senior source.
Even at 8am on Tuesday, ministers said Starmer’s position was not yet solidified. Darren Jones, the prime minister’s principal secretary, spent the morning in television interviews saying Starmer was “listening to colleagues,” suggesting he could announce a timetable for leaving.
But while Jones was speaking in the studio, Starmer was on a call with his closest aides, where he decided to “stand his ground.” One ally says: “The prime minister went into the cabinet and thought: ‘You know what? It’s not going to happen. I’m going to fight.’”
Starmer's intervention halted the momentum against him for a few hours, before ministerial resignations resumed with Jess Phillips and Alex Davies-Jones. Health Minister Zubir Ahmed, an ally of Streeting, also resigned. / Adapted from "Pamphlet" by The Spectator
Starmer's decision to divide and rule highlighted the deep divisions among his opponents and demonstrated the power of an active prime minister, something he had not typically exercised during his term.
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