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‘Why are we even doing this?’ The week that left Britain’s PM looking like an interim leader

Wes Streeting resigned as health secretary but seemingly edged away from a leadership challenge, Andy Burnham is seen as the successor apparent. But the Greater Manchester mayor is not yet in parliament and will first

Monday briefing: How is it possible the prime minister didn’t know about Mandelson’s vetting failure?

Street, no politician was told – not [David Lammy as foreign secretary](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/18/starmer-would-have-blocked-mandelson-role-over-vetting-failure-says-lammy), and not the prime minister. That’s extraordinary.” Paul is not alone in thinking this is extraordinary. Others have gone further

Analysis: Has Starmer done enough to save his premiership?

leadership contest right now. A sigh of relief, in the immediate moment at least, for Downing Street - and for the Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham, as she is now advocating that the prime minister

Badenoch says Labour ‘just want a better salesman’. It would be a good start

plan for change, and deliver, deliver, deliver – without settling on an effective list of his achievements to be repeated at every opportunity. One former Labour adviser says the problem is a “lack of Labour myth

UK borrowing costs hit highest for 18 years as uncertainty over PM continues

leadership in the UK](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c1e2n923v1lt) and perceived risk of looser public spending has further unsettled investors. The UK's main stock index, the FTSE 100, fell 0.5% with shares in British banks leading

Catherine West backs down from Starmer challenge but urges him to go by September

leadership, has changed course and said she instead wants the prime minister to set a timetable of September for his departure. West, the MP for Hornsey and Friern Barnet and a former Foreign Office minister

Chris Mason: Why a coffee is overshadowing the King's Speech

planned new laws for the year and a bit ahead. This ceremonial occasion was scheduled for this week precisely because government figures anticipated a rough set of election results and a splash of political tumult

UK’s Keir Starmer faces likely challenge following Labour’s election defeat

planned to email her colleagues for the necessary support on Monday morning if no one else put themselves forward. More than 30 Labour MPs have said Starmer should resign or set out timetables

Wes Streeting prepares to launch leadership challenge against Keir Starmer

Wes Streeting is preparing to launch a leadership challenge against Keir Starmer on Thursday if the health secretary can secure the support of enough MPs to trigger a contest. Streeting’s move to force

Labour MP in seat eyed by Burnham allies says she will not stand aside

leadership contest. Allies of Burnham, who hopes to seek to replace Starmer as prime minister, had said Rimmer’s seat was one possibly in contention for him to fight a byelection. But Rimmer

John Healey says Labour infighting puts government’s credibility at risk

Wes Streeting](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/wes-streeting) and even the junior defence minister Al Carns. Arguing that “these are serious times”, Healey – who was also a minister under Gordon Brown – said [Labour](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/labour)

‘It’s Andy or bust’: could Burnham’s return to parliament save Starmer?

plans circulating, none of them good,” one MP said. One source said backbenchers were preparing to demand that Starmer allow Burnham to return to parliament as a price for their support in any summer leadership

Starmer to face Commons grilling at PMQs as Streeting plans resignation speech – UK politics live

plan to curb supermarket prices*** As **Sarah Butler**, **Mark Sweney** and **Heather Stewart** report, UK supermarkets have been asked by the government to consider freezing the prices of some essential foodstuffs to protect the public

PM insists he will not walk away as Burnham promises to change Labour

Wes Streeting, Burnham's potential leadership rival, told a conference that the "biggest economic opportunity we have is on our doorstep" as he called for a "new special relationship" with the EU. The former minister

Starmer holds brief meeting with Streeting amid leadership crisis

Wes Streeting has held talks with Keir Starmer in Downing Street as an ally of the health secretary renewed calls for the prime minister to resign, saying his authority had “irretrievably ebbed away”. Streeting arrived

How team Burnham finally cleared the first of many hurdles on route to Westminster

Wes Streeting attending the state opening of parliament the day before he resigned as health secretary. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters The mood among his supporters was bleak. “It’s a shit cocktail,” said

Rich already being taxed properly, says minister, as Streeting calls for ‘wealth tax that works’– UK politics live

plan for what makes for a good summer is not quite the same as [Samantha Niblett’s](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/apr/16/blue-labour-mp-samantha-niblett-summer-of-sex); the chancellor is talking about free bus travel for children, as **Heather Stewart, Peter Walker

Wednesday briefing: Where Starmer stands after another precarious day in Parliament

leadership, but it is bleak. Even so, Starmer is likely to be unyielding to this criticism, says Kiran. “People who know Starmer say that he’s extremely stubborn and can be impervious to outside criticism