Keir Starmer's Time In Downing Street Is Coming To An End – But Who Comes Next?

The prime minister won't be around for much longer.

Keir Starmer has insisted he “won’t walk away” from Downing Street, but it soon won’t be his decision to make.

A Labour leadership contest is coming, after which the prime minister will be forced out of No.10.

If there was any doubt at all, then they will be extinguished next Thursday, when HuffPost UK understand the next tranche of Peter Mandelson documents will be released. They will not reflect well on Starmer.

The only questions that remain are when he will walk out of the famous black door for the final time as PM, and who his replacement will be.

For now, the PM and his allies remain defiant – although the radio silence from Starmer himself in recent days speaks to the turmoil which is engulfing him and the entire Downing Street operation.

Instead, it has been up to loyal Starmer lieutenants like communities secretary Steve Reed to go out and defend the leader.

“Keir Starmer is the elected leader of the Labour Party and the elected prime minister of our country and as things stand, there is no challenger to him in those positions,” he told the BBC on Friday.

That much is true, of course. Contrary to the expectation at Westminster, Wes Streeting did not trigger a leadership contest when he resigned as health secretary with a furious blast at Starmer.

He even said the debate about Labour’s future “needs to be broad, and it needs the best possible field of candidates” – code for ‘Andy Burnham should be able to take part’.

His critics – and there are many of them in Labour circles – suggested this was because he had failed to get enough support from MPs and so was looking to do a deal with the Greater Manchester mayor.

But this was denied by Streeting allies, one of whom told HuffPost UK: “He has........

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