Streeting’s allies say he’s preparing to resign and launch leadership challenge as early as tomorrow
Pippa Crerar
Allies of Wes Streeting have said he is preparing to quit as health secretary and could mount a formal challenge for the leadership as early as tomorrow, Pippa Crerar, Alexandra Topping and Jessica Elgot report.
Downing Street insiders had suggested Streeting did not yet have the required support from the 81 MPs needed to formally launch a leadership bid after Keir Starmer issued a “put up or shut up” ultimatum to his cabinet.
But a source close to Streeting told the Guardian that he was planning to resign on Thursday and launch a leadership bid. The idea that Starmer had seen off a putsch was “laughable”, they added.
“No one has the numbers till the bell is struck, even canvassing isn’t real, people need certainty before they write their name down. But he thinks he’s got the numbers,” they added.
A second MP, also close to the Streeting camp, said that they had been involved in discussions about getting the requisite numbers he would need to trigger a contest.
Two other MPs have said they had been called by allies of Streeting on Tuesday evening to tell them: “He’s going for it.” One said they were unsure if the health secretary had sufficient backing to go through with the plan.
Here is the full story.
Key events
Consumer groups ‘disappointed’ in delay on tout crackdown
Consumer groups and ticket sellers alike say they are “disappointed” that a crackdown on touts has been relegated to a draft bill in the king’s speech, the Press Association says. PA reports:
In November, the government announced it was planning new rules making it illegal to resell tickets for live events for a profit, claiming it would end the “industrial-scale” touting that has caused misery for millions of fans.
The Labour manifesto promised stronger protections to stop consumers being scammed or priced out of events by touts, who frequently use bots to buy tickets in bulk the moment they go on sale, which they can then sell on for huge mark-ups on secondary ticketing websites.
But the hoped-for full legislation was left out of today’s speech, with a draft ticket tout ban bill confirmed in the supporting documentation.
Reform UK has issued this statement about the news that Nigel Farage is being investigated by the parliamentary commissioner for standards. A party spokesperson said:
Mr Farage’s office is in communications with the parliamentary commissioner for standards.
He has always been clear that this was a personal, unconditional gift and no rules were broken.
We look forward to this being put to bed once and for all.
How parliamentary inquiry into Farage’s £5m donation could potentially lead to recall byelection in Clacton
Here is Peter Walker’s story about Nigel Farage being investigated over his undeclared £5m donation from Christopher Harborne.
Reform UK claims that Nigel Farage was under no obligation to declare the donation because it was a personal gift intended to pay for his security. It was not related to his subsequent work as an MP, the party says.
Although there is an exemption for gifts that are purely personal, the House of Commons rules say that gifts should be registered if people might reasonably assume there could be a political motive behind them. The relevant section says MPs do not have to register:
Benefits which could not reasonably be thought by others to be related to membership of the house or to the member’s parliamentary or political activities; for example, purely personal gifts or benefits from partners or family members. However, both the possible motive of the giver and the use to which the gift is to be put should be considered. If there is any doubt, the benefit should be registered.
Harborne has said the gift was just personal. He told the Telegraph: “I wasn’t expecting anything in return apart from ensuring [Farage’s] safety.”
But, given that Harborne donated £10m to the Brexit party before the 2019 election, and £12m to Reform UK (the new name for the Brexit party) in 2025, it is not particularly surprising that the parliamentary commissioner for standards, Daniel Greenberg, has decided that this is matter that merits a proper investigation.
In a story for the Observer at the weekend, Catherine Neilan quoted experts saying that, if an inquiry finds Farage has broken the rules, the punishment could be quite serious. She said:
A senior official who was also involved in the partygate investigation added: “It’s hard to see how they wouldn’t investigate and impose a sanction.
“[Farage] is saying it’s about security. Well, if that is true, it’s in part because he’s an MP… But setting aside his own rationale, such a donation for any MP should be disclosed.
“In my view, it is impossible to say there isn’t at least a perception of a conflict or obligation created.”
Another source added: “If Farage received this in the year before he was elected, then it should have been declared, no doubt about it.
“My forecast would be that Farage will receive a lengthy suspension, which could trigger a byelection, but that he would relish this and storm back to victory because the good burghers of Clacton would think that he was being clobbered by the establishment.”
In the US Donald Trump faced multiple prosecutions ahead of the 2024 presidential election, and he was found guilty of falsification of business records in a hush-money case.
But the criminal proceedings had little or no impact on Trump’s popularity because he successfully persuaded his supporters that the investigations were evidence he was being persecuted by the establishment because he was standing up for ordinary people.
It is not hard to imagine Farage trying a similar ploy in a Clacton byelection.
Farage to be investigated by Commons standards watchdog over claim he broke rules by not declaring £5m gift
Nigel Farage will be investigated by the Commons standards watchdog over the revelation that he did not disclose a £5m donation from the crypt billionaire Christopher Harborne that he received shortly before the 2024 election, the BBC is reporting.
BREAKING from @ChrisMasonBBC
The BBC understands that the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner has decided to begin an inquiry into whether the Reform leader Nigel Farage has breached the House of Commons Code of Conduct over accepting a £5m gift and not declaring it
Here is a picture of Wes Streeting in the procession from the Commons to the Lords to listen to the king’s speech. He is alongside James Cleverly, the shadow housing secretary, who earlier posted a message on social media saying it was a mistake for Keir Starmer to humiliate Streeting in the way he did this morning. (See 9.56am.)
Severin Carrell
Severin Carrell is the Guardian’s Scotland editor.
Amid all the feverish and conspiratorial theories about where Labour leadership contender Andy Burnham could find a safe Westminster seat, only one of those theories puts him in the same category as Winston Churchill.
Scottish political journalists have amused themselves by pointing out there are about to be two vacant Westminster seats in Scotland after last week’s Holyrood elections. Could Burnham head that far north?
Two Scottish National party MPs were elected to the Scottish parliament on Thursday – Stephen Gethins and Stephen Flynn – and, under Scottish legislation introduced last year, they must now quit the Commons and trigger byelections.
Gethins is, for now, the MP for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry which borders the city of Dundee. It might seem deeply implausible an Englishman with pretensions to be prime minister would have the gall to turbocharge their career from a Scottish seat, not least on nationalist Tayside.
Yet from 1908 Churchill was also an MP there, winning five elections for the Liberals in Dundee until losing it in 1922. And he had trudged northwards to Dundee after losing his previous seat in Manchester North West.
Andrew Liddle, a political consultant who is also author of Churchill: The Scottish Years, said Churchill had “gleefully described” Dundee as his “life seat” because it allowed to him to take his first cabinet position, as president of the board of trade, before becoming home secretary.
But there the comparisons may end, Liddle said. With devolution, and the strength of support for Scottish independence, the idea of an English MP carpet-bagging a prize Scottish seat, once seen as quite normal, would now by utterly unacceptable.
Liddle explained:
Of course, Churchill operated in a very different world from Burnham. In the pre-devolution era, a Scottish constituency carried the same Westminster status as any other UK seat, he only felt the need to visit the constituency occasionally, and – crucially – there was no Scottish National Party to challenge him for office.
For Churchill, Dundee was the platform that kickstarted his political career. For Burnham, it would surely be a folly that would end it.
For many observers, the best bit of the state opening always used to be the Labour Dennis Skinner cracking a joke as Black Rod arrived to summon MPs to the Lords.
In truth, some of Skinner’s jokes were better than others. Today the Labour MP Torcuil Crichton sought to inherit the Skinner mantle, and his gag was terrific. I won’t print it, because you’ll enjoy it more if you watch. Josh Gafson from Sky News has the clip.
Starmer sets out changes to education, health and courts in king’s speech
Keir Starmer has put long-promised changes to education, health and the courts at the heart of his agenda for the next year, as the embattled prime minister looks to prove he can enact the scale of change being demanded by Labour MPs and voters, Kiran Stacey reports.
Wes Streeting, or whoever manages his social media account, has just posted this on social media. It refers to a bill in the king’s speech.
Under Labour, NHS waiting lists are falling, ambulances are arriving faster, there are more GPs, and higher patient satisfaction.
Lots done, lots to do.
The Health Bill will boost the impact of our investment and modernisation: cutting bureaucracy to invest in patient care.
This may have been scheduled; and it implies that Streeting intends to carry on as health secretary.
But it does not say that explicitly. And, if he were to achieve his ambition of becoming PM, he would be in charge of all government activity, and in a position to implement a “lots to do” pledge in regard to health, and everything else.
Streeting’s allies say he’s preparing to resign and launch leadership challenge as early as tomorrow
Pippa Crerar
Allies of Wes Streeting have said he is preparing to quit as health secretary and could mount a formal challenge for the leadership as early as tomorrow, Pippa Crerar, Alexandra Topping and Jessica Elgot report.
Downing Street insiders had suggested Streeting did not yet have the required support from the 81 MPs needed to formally launch a leadership bid after Keir Starmer issued a “put up or shut up” ultimatum to his cabinet.
But a source close to Streeting told the Guardian that he was planning to resign on Thursday and launch a leadership bid. The idea that Starmer had seen off a putsch was “laughable”, they added.
“No one has the numbers till the bell is struck, even canvassing isn’t real, people need certainty before they write their name down. But he thinks he’s got the numbers,” they added.
A second MP, also close to the Streeting camp, said that they had been involved in discussions about getting the requisite numbers he would need to trigger a contest.
Two other MPs have said they had been called by allies of Streeting on Tuesday evening to tell them: “He’s going for it.” One said they were unsure if the health secretary had sufficient backing to go through with the plan.
Here is the full story.
The king is now wrapping up.
Next year, the United Kingdom will take on the G20 presidency and host the G20 Summit to drive global growth and reinforce global stability, which is essential for the prosperity of working people across the country.
My government is committed to the strength and integrity of the Union of the United Kingdom and will continue to work closely with the devolved governments to deliver for citizens across the whole of the nation.
Members of the House of Commons
Estimates for the public services will be laid before you.
My Lords and members of the House of Commons
Other measures will be laid before you.
I pray that the blessing of Almighty God may rest upon your counsels.
And that’s it.
The king goes on:
My ministers will also take forward recommendations of the Nuclear Regulatory Review and encourage a new era of British nuclear energy generation
My government will remain a leading advocate for tackling climate change and achieving a world free from poverty. The United Kingdom will also take action to reduce humanitarian need and conflict around the world.
My ministers will champion the rights of women and girls to live in a world free from violence. This will include promoting women’s full economic and political participation within their societies, with agency over the decisions that impact their lives.
The king goes on:
My government will support our gallant Armed Forces and their families who make considerable personal sacrifices for the collective security and freedom of everyone in the United Kingdom. My ministers will recognise this service with an armed forces bill that improves the service justice system and establishes the armed forces covenant in statute.
My ministers believe that energy independence must be a long-term goal of national security and that the nation’s energy security requires long-term investment and reform, as demonstrated by recent events in the Middle East. Increased production of clean British energy will help to ensure that enemies of the United Kingdom cannot attack the economic security of the British people. My Ministers will therefore introduce an Energy Independence Bill to scale-up homegrown renewable energy and protect living standards for the long-term.
The king goes on:
My government will seek to reinforce the long-term energy, defence and economic security of the United Kingdom as an essential component of strength on the world stage. This will include housing, which can be a source of insecurity for many people. My Ministers will bring forward legislation to increase long-term investment in social housing and to reform the leasehold system, including the capping of ground rents.
My government will introduce legislation to tackle the growing threat from foreign state entities and their proxies. They will respond to the horrific attack in Southport with measures to protect the British people from extreme violence, and honour the victims, the injured and their families. My ministers will also introduce legislation to improve the country’s defences against cybersecurity threats.
The king goes on:
My government will bring forward a bill to speed up remediation for people living in homes with unsafe cladding and a draft Bill to ban abusive conversion practices.
In this volatile world, my government will continue to pursue foreign policy based on a calm assessment of the national interest. It will continue its unflinching support for the brave people of Ukraine, who fight on the frontline of freedom.
My ministers will seek to improve relations with European partners as a vital step in strengthening European security. It will continue to promote long term peace in the Middle East and the Two-State solution in Israel and Palestine.
My government will also uphold the United Kingdom’s unbreakable commitment to Nato and our Nato allies, including through a sustained increase in defence spending.
