By Sam Tabahriti
LONDON (Reuters) -British health minister Wes Streeting denied on Wednesday he was plotting to bring down Keir Starmer, after unnamed allies of the prime minister briefed newspapers that they feared an attempted coup could come later this month after the budget.
Starmer steered his Labour Party to one of the biggest election victories in British history in 2024 but just 16 months later it is languishing in the polls and poised to break one of its main election pledges to increase income taxes for the first time since the 1970s.
Several British media outlets on Wednesday cited allies of Starmer saying the prime minister would fight any challenge to his leadership, with Streeting and interior minister Shabana Mahmood named as possible candidates to replace him.
HEALTH MINISTER SAYS THE BRIEFING IS UNTRUE
“That briefing is categorically untrue,” Streeting told BBC Radio.
Doing the early media round of talking to broadcasters, Streeting said the briefings of a challenge were self defeating because they gave the impression Starmer was fighting for his job when he was instead focused on fighting to improve Britain.
“I’m not going to demand the prime minister’s resignation,” he told Sky News. “I support the prime minister. I have done since he was elected leader of the Labour Party.”
British government bond prices fell on Wednesday and underperformed against U.S. and German bonds, possibly hinting at investor unease over Starmer’s prospects. The pound fell by around a third of a cent against the U.S. dollar.
Market strategists said investors were concerned that if Starmer was no longer prime minister it could potentially lead to a left-leaning candidate taking over and raising government borrowing.
CHALLENGE FROM NIGEL FARAGE’S PARTY
Much of Labour’s unpopularity has stemmed from tax rises and failed attempts at cutting welfare spending, showing the potential for the budget to be the next flashpoint.
Two Labour lawmakers expressed exasperation at the briefing, saying it underlined what they said was a poorly functioning team around Starmer in Downing Street. One said on condition of anonymity that it felt “very end of days”.
Opinion polls suggest Starmer is one of the most unpopular prime ministers of all time, and his party has trailed Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK party for months.
But it is particularly difficult to oust a Labour leader because any challenge would need the backing of 20% of the party’s lawmakers in parliament, which roughly means around 80 of them agreeing on an alternative candidate.
The centre-left Labour Party is now bracing for the budget on November 26, with finance minister Rachel Reeves suggesting she will have to increase taxes to fill a fiscal black hole, a year after she hiked levies by 40 billion pounds ($53.7 billion) in what she said was a one-off event.
($1 = 0.7451 pounds)
(Reporting by Sam Tabahriti; Additional reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Writing by Kate Holton; Editing by Alison Williams)
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