When Labour’s then Shadow Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, came to support Joe Morris’s election campaign in Hexham just over two years ago the mutual respect was clear.
Fast forward to this week and Morris – who became the first Labour MP in Hexham for a hundred years – was one of the first to make a move against Prime Minister Keir Starmer. He resigned as Streeting’s PPS – Parliamentary Private Secretary.
In his resignation letter he said, “I have boundless confidence in the Labour Party and in our ability to rise to this moment. However, regrettably, it is now clear the Prime Minister no longer has the trust or confidence of the public to lead this change.”
By resigning, Morris was not only clearing the way to criticise Starmer, but also, according to some, support Streeting if there was a leadership bid. He helped start the ball rolling in Westminster, which at one point yesterday was gathering pace with each news-flash.
At the time of writing, Joe Morris has not endorsed anyone to take over from Starmer, should a leadership contest be triggered. His former boss, Health Secretary Wes Streeting, was due to meet Keir Starmer this morning (Wednesday) with speculation that his leadership bid was faltering.
And that’s politics for you. If the speculation is correct, Joe Morris is primed to help any leadership campaign by his former boss. If successful, his reward might be a promotion. Alternatively, it could all result in a set back to the thirty-four-year old’s ambitions.
Political commentators, and there are many of them at times like this, reckon Streeting eyed a quick campaign to block-off Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham. Streeting is to the right of the party. Burnham more to the left; but not as far left as former deputy leader, Angela Raynor, who has also been talked about, if she can clear up her tax affairs.
Joe Morris wrote to local party members
Joe Morris wrote to local party members yesterday saying he owed them an explanation:
“Knocking on doors for councillors and council candidates, I and many others were struck that the main issue on the doorstep was the Prime Minister. This was not an aberration, and was unfortunately my experience at by-elections and in the previous set of local elections in Northumberland.
“I know and believe Keir Starmer to be an honest and decent man. He has delivered some incredible policies. But he knows as well that the risk of a Reform government, led by Nigel Farage, is a national emergency.
“I can assure you all that I have wrestled with this decision since polling day, when on door after door the PM came up as the reason we have lost voters.”
When Wes Streeting came to Hexham two years ago, he issued a rallying cry to Labour supporters who were about to go and knock on doors. “Putting in the hard graft is really, really, important,” he said.
By the time you read this, it may have become clear just how much hard graft Streeting put into mapping out his future – and possibly that of the Hexham MP.
