Is This Slick Eastender Britain's Next Prime Minister?

Keir Starmer may have killed off the chief threat to his crown by blocking the popular Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham’s return to Parliament, but the vacancy as chief pretender was immediately filled. Health Secretary Wes Streeting now has a few months to show he’d make a better British prime minister than Starmer. It’s far from certain that he would.

Psychologically, many Labour lawmakers can’t yet come to terms with Burnham’s political execution. They look at opinion polls suggesting he was the one party figure with a hope of turning around their fortunes, and chafe at Starmer’s leaden leadership and dismal ratings. Fifty wrote to Labour’s politburo, the National Executive Committee, urging it to reverse its rejection of Burnham’s candidacy for the once safe seat of Gorton and Denton.