Keir Starmer urged to sack Wes Streeting for disloyalty as Cabinet turns on Health Secretary

Earlier in the week, when questioned on Labour's apparent U-turn on Digital ID, Mr Streeting said: "This excuses culture does the centre-left no favours.

"If we tell the public that we can’t make anything work, then why on Earth would they vote to keep us in charge?"

He has also been backed to pose a potential leadership challenge against Keir Starmer on multiple occasions.

But ministers have had enough. They feel that Sir Keir should take a leaf out of Kemi Badenoch's book, after she sacked and suspended Robert Jenrick from her party when she received "irrefutable" evidence he was planning to defect.

He was unveiled as the newest member of Reform at 4.30pm that afternoon.

One cabinet minister said of Mr Streeting: "What he’s doing is so obvious, he is repeatedly breaching collective responsibility, he is attacking No10, he is undermining all of us.

"The [parliamentary Labour Party] don’t like what he is doing, they would back [Sir Keir] if he acted."

Another stated: "Everyone knows he has MPs from the 2024 intake telling anyone who’ll listen that it’s time to get rid of Keir and make Wes PM instead.

"It’s wild behaviour. If he doesn’t bring it to a head, he’ll have to be brought to heel."

A third believes that Mr Streeting has behaved unacceptably, saying: "Wes is exactly the same as he was when he was 18… If he doesn’t become Labour Prime Minister he will tell himself his entire life has been a failure.

"Everything he’s doing now is in pursuit of that aim. Has he been pushing the boundary of what’s acceptable? Yes."

A spokesman for the Health Secretary said: "It’s a real shame that Keir’s so-called allies are briefing against Wes yet again, when they should be talking about the second biggest fall in waiting lists in 15 years, and ambulances arriving 15 minutes faster with Labour.

"Given Reform and the Tories are at each other’s throats right now, this briefing is also incredibly stupid. Wes is delivering real change in the NHS, and is out there making the case for Keir and for Labour."

A Downing Street source said he was doing a "great job as Health Secretary", adding that he was a "key player in the team".

Mr Streeting and the PM are no strangers to leadership rows. Just last month, the Health Secretary said the best way to boost the British economy would be a "closer trading relationship" with the EU.

Sir Keir is firmly against such an idea. Mr Streeting was accused of being "opportunistic" and putting in "an early shot in what might be a leadership election".

He had also been accused of plotting against the PM earlier in the year, as unknown sources from inside No10 insisted Sir Keir was fighting a leadership battle.

And while the PM managed to escape unscathed, his latest U-turn on Digital IDs has further reduced confidence in his ability to lead.

One cabinet minister said Labour was "extraordinarily bad" at the moment, while another said he has a "50-50" chance of staying in office.

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