What to know about who could succeed Keir Starmer as UK prime minister
Feb 9, 2026, 6:28 AM
FILE - This photo combination shows, from left, Wes Streeting in Liverpool, Sept. 30, 2025, Angela Rayner in Shoreditch, London, June 5, 2025, Andy Burnham in Liverpool, Sept. 29, 2025, Shabana Mahmood in Liverpool, Sept. 29, 2025 and Ed Miliband in Hamburg, Germany, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Super, Kirsty Wigglesworth, Martin Meissner, File)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(AP Photo/Jon Super, Kirsty Wigglesworth, Martin Meissner, File)
LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s leadership is on the rocks amid an expanding scandal over his appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the U.S. despite the veteran politician’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Some believe the recent release of the Epstein files, which suggest damaging and embarrassing new details about the close ties between Mandelson and the late convicted sex offender, may sink Starmer’s premiership.
But there is no formal confidence vote procedure to oust a Labour leader, and any challenger will need the support of 80 lawmakers, or one-fifth of the party in the House of Commons, to trigger a contest.
While no clear front-runner has emerged, here are the potential contenders who could succeed Starmer:
Health Secretary Wes Streeting is widely regarded as a polished communicator and has been an outspoken government voice on issues including the war in Gaza.
His ambitions for the top job were long rumored, but entered the spotlight last year when Starmer’s allies allegedly told British media that the prime minister will fight attempts to challenge his leadership — and media speculation at the time centered on Streeting.
Streeting, who was elected a lawmaker in 2015, strongly denied he was plotting to replace Starmer and called the suggestions “nonsense.”
Former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has long set herself apart as a different kind of politician — she never went to university, was brought up in social housing and left school at 16 as a teen mother.
Rayner was active in trade unions before she was elected a lawmaker in 2015. She soon rose to Labour’s senior ranks when the party was in opposition and was elected deputy leader in 2020.
Rayner enjoys significant support within the party, but she was forced to resign from the government last year after admitting she did not pay enough tax on a house purchase. She is still awaiting the findings of an official review on that controversy.
After the fallout over the Epstein files’ revelations on Mandelson, Rayner led a lawmakers’ revolt to force the government to cede control to Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee to decide which documents should be released into the public domain.
Former Cabinet minister Andy Burnham, the popular, center-left Greater Manchester mayor, has long been seen as a potential rival for Starmer.
But his leadership prospects were dented after Labour blocked him from standing as the party’s candidate for Parliament in a special election later in February.
By longstanding convention, the prime minister must be a member of Parliament.
Burnham has served in a Labour government previously, including as Culture Secretary and Health Secretary.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has one of the toughest jobs in government, overseeing immigration and law and order. She has become a favorite of many on the right wing of the Labour Party with her moves to tighten border controls and crack down on unauthorized immigration.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband is a former Labour leader, but his five years at the top of the party when it was in opposition ended in Labour’s 2015 election defeat. Miliband has publicly played down any desire to return to the job, but he is one of the most experienced members of Cabinet.
