Who could replace Keir Starmer as Britain’s prime minister?

Who could replace Keir Starmer as Britain’s prime minister?: More than 80 members of his Labour Party have stated that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is not the best candidate to lead the nation and win the upcoming national election, putting pressure on him to step down. Since there hasn’t yet been a formal challenge to his leadership, he has promised to remain.

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Who could replace Keir Starmer as Britain’s prime minister?

Here is a list of potential candidates to succeed Starmer if Labour were to select a new leader:

Wes Streeting, 43

Since Labour took office in July 2024, Streeting has been the minister of health and social care. In this capacity, he oversees the National Health Service, which is sponsored by the state and has a budget of over 200 billion pounds.

Streeting has supported budgetary discipline in accordance with Starmer’s strategy and is seen as a centrist within the Labour Party. Additionally, he has backed the government’s plan to boost defence spending.

Streeting was viewed as a protégé of Peter Mandelson, the former ambassador of the United Kingdom to the United States, who was nominated by Starmer before being dismissed due to his connections to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. While denying that they were close friends, Streeting has expressed embarrassment at having known Mandelson.

In an attempt to resolve a pay impasse, he authorised a 22% salary increase for resident physicians over a two-year period during his first year as health minister. Since then, doctors’ strikes have continued.

Since 2015, Streeting has served as an East London constituency representative. He won the seat in 2024 by a mere 528 votes, rendering it vulnerable in the upcoming election.

He would be the first openly gay prime minister in British history, and he identifies his background as working class. He was born to adolescent parents and has talked about how both his grandfather and grandmother were incarcerated; his mother was born when his grandmother was incarcerated.

He is a former president of the National Union of Students and attended Cambridge University, which he claims he paid for himself via retail jobs.

He is a former president of the National Union of Students and attended Cambridge University, which he claims he paid for himself via retail jobs.

Andy Burnham, 56

Burnham is one of Labour’s most well-known politicians and the mayor of Manchester in northern England.

Since he is not a member of parliament, he is now unable to run for any leadership position, although he has recently attempted to do so.

Labour’s National Executive Committee prevented him from seeking a seat in the House of Commons in January. Starmer and his associates were accused by his fans, who are typically on the left of the party, of excluding a possible rival for the leadership.

In the 2000s, Burnham served as Britain’s deputy finance minister in the administration of former prime minister Gordon Brown. Burnham has run twice for the party’s leadership, losing badly to left-wing veteran Jeremy Corbyn in 2015.

Although he was elected mayor of Manchester in 2017, he has continued to have a significant impact on some centre-left Labour factions, especially those who disagree with Starmer’s more moderate views.

After he was cited as suggesting that Britain needed to cease being “in hock to the bond market,” he has attempted to reassure investors that they would be safe under his economic agenda. He claimed that his remarks were misconstrued.

Angela Rayner, 46

One of the most well-known members of the party, Rayner resigned in 2025 from her positions as housing secretary, deputy prime minister, and deputy leader of the Labour Party after acknowledging that she had inadvertently underpaid taxes on a property purchase and being found to have violated the ministerial code of conduct.

Any prospective leadership bid is hampered by the fact that the issue with authorities has not yet been entirely settled. Her recent calls for Burnham to return to parliament may be an indication that she won’t seek for office.

Compared to the moderate Starmer, she is thought to be more in line with the party’s left-wing, trade union origins. During her tenure, she supported laws that increased workers’ rights, supported raising the minimum wage, and advocated for increased public investment.

Although she publicly supported Labour’s demands for fiscal prudence, media sources from May 2025, when she was still a minister, stated that she had advocated for greater taxes. Since leaving government, she has called for “bold action” to protect Britons from the consequences of the Iran conflict.

On a social housing estate in the town of Stockport, close to Manchester, Rayner was raised in relative poverty. Before joining parliament in 2015, the teenage mother worked as a care worker and a trade union representative.

Ed Miliband, 56

After serving as the party’s leader from 2010 to 2015, Miliband, one of Starmer’s most senior cabinet members, has been connected to a comeback. According to him, the event “inoculated” him against wanting to repeat it.

He has been the government’s leading advocate for net zero energy policies.

In the 2010 leadership election, he defeated Burnham and his brother David by presenting a more center-left agenda for the party than his centrist brother. He had previously served in government under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown from 2006 to 2010.

Shabana Mahmood, 45

Mahmood, a lawmaker since 2010, has advanced quickly through the ministerial ranks and was appointed home secretary in September after serving as justice minister. She is the first Muslim woman to hold either position. Although she is perceived as being on the right of the party, critics claim that her tougher stance on immigration means Labour is losing the support of progressives who have historically supported it to left-wing alternatives like the Greens. She is also unpopular with the party’s left wing. She is the first female Muslim in either position.

She has pushed for a harder position on immigration, which she claims is essential to defeating the right-wing Reform UK party and resolving people’ immigration issues. She is perceived as being on the party’s right.

Her strong stance, according to detractors, is causing Labour to lose the support of progressives who have historically supported it in favour of left-wing alternatives like the Greens. The party’s left flank dislikes her as well.

Al Carns, 46

Al Carns, a junior defence minister who was just elected in 2024, has been speculated to be an outside contender who would be well-liked by other first-time parliamentarians seeking a new voice.

Prior to entering politics, he was a member of the Royal Marines, a veteran of Afghanistan, and a military advisor to successive Conservative defence ministers.

He was a member of a team that tested the use of xenon gas to accelerate acclimatisation and ascended Mount Everest in less than seven days last year.