Topic analysis

Chris Mason: Potential leadership challengers jostle for positions

What we are witnessing this morning is the jostling on the expected start line of a race to be our next prime minister. The jostling is evident everywhere: from the prime minister's supporters, not least the Chancellor Rachel Reeves, telling BBC Breakfast that a contest would be "plunging the country into chaos at a time when there is conflict in the world, but also at a time when our plan to grow the economy is starting to bear fruit". Then there are friends and allies of the Health Secretary Wes Streeting who expect his challenge to Sir Keir Starmer to now be imminent, but with his rivals briefing that he has struggled to get the numbers of backers he requires. Then the interviews the former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has done. She is saying she has resolved the tax issue that cost her her job in government and she is now ready to "play my part" in the forthcoming anticipated debates about the Labour leadership. Then there is Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, currently marooned outside Parliament and so unable to take part in any immediate leadership race unless he can demonstrate he can get a move on – find a seat, persuade the party to let him stand, and hope that the timeframe of any contest means he can play a part in it. His weekly phone-in slot with Mike Sweeney on BBC Radio Manchester isn't going ahead this morning , which is rare. His spokesman is saying that "he has to prioritise discussions arising from last week's local elections" – which is one way of putting where the Labour Party and the government find themselves right now. And also appearing, at length, in the left-wing New Statesman magazine , the thoughts of the defence minister and recent conqueror of Everest, Al Carns. The little-known Carns has long been seen as having leadership ambitions. His essay, a diagnosis of his party's problems, argues: "Working-class voters have not simply left Labour. Many feel Labour stopped understanding their lives and so they looked elsewhere." Meanwhile, the prime minister and his allies continue to scrap. At least at this stage, they give no indication whatsoever of planning to give up. Sir Keir and his backers are arguing that a leadership contest would be irresponsible and would paralyse the government for months. It could be quite the day ahead. Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to keep up with the inner workings of Westminster and beyond.