Like in a game of tennis, Wes Streeting just very firmly lobbed the ball into Angela Rayner’s court.

Rayner had dropped a breakfast time 130mph serve when she revealed HM Revenue and Customs – with exquisite timing – had cleared her of any wrongdoing. That ace meant she was free to return to Cabinet. Or she could choose to stay on the backbenches ahead of a leadership contest when it officially starts, even though it effectively started after Labour’s local elections drubbing last week.  

Streeting resigned as health secretary at lunchtime when it became clear he could not last the day as a senior member in Sir Keir Starmer’s Government. Goaded into sacking his troublesome minister, Starmer neither had the authority nor inclination to do so. The Prime Minister’s Monday reset speech had further damaged his standing.

“Where we need vision, we have a vacuum. Where we need direction, we have drift. This was underscored by your speech on Monday. Leaders take responsibility, but too often that has meant other people falling on their swords,” Streeting wrote in his resignation letter.

Those who dislike Streeting had watched his team’s machinations on Thursday morning with barely-disguised Schadenfreude as they speculated he did not have the required 81 MPs to challenge Starmer. “He’s f***ked it,” one Cabinet aide said, succinctly.

“First rule of briefing is: keep it vague,”........

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