Good morning. Keir Starmer is still in France for the G7 summit but – as Margaret Thatcher discovered on a trip to Paris in November 1990 – acting as a statesman on the world stage does not protect a PM from a leadership challenge at home and, on that front, there has been a small development overnight; Starmer is now being told explicitly he will face a leadership challenge next week if he does not agree a timetable to stand down after the Makerfield byelection tomorrow.This has always been implicit, but last night Wes Streeting, the former health secretary who wants to launch a leadership bid, said it out loud.Streeting was doing media all day after giving a speech on his economic vision (which he calls progressive capitalism). Asked about the leadership at his speech event in the morning, he stressed that he wanted Starmer to set a timetable for his departure. By the time he came to speak to broadcasters in the evening, he was more explicit.In an interview with Cathy Newman for on her Sky News show, asked what he would do if Starmer did not agree voluntarily to set a timetable for his departure, Streeting replied:
double quotation markWe can’t go on with this uncertainty. I think we will inevitably end up in a contest.
