Who could replace Keir Starmer as Labour leader and Britain’s next prime minister?

By Christian Edwards, CNN

London (CNN) — Keir Starmer has thrown down the gauntlet to his potential rivals, defying calls to quit as Britain’s prime minister and instead challenging his would-be opponents to launch a formal challenge against his leadership of the Labour Party.

To trigger a leadership challenge, one fifth of Labour’s members of parliament (MPs) – that is, 81 lawmakers – must coalesce around a single candidate. Once one or more candidates amass that level of support, their names can be put on the ballot to run against Starmer, in a contest voted on by Labour Party members.

Despite nearly 100 lawmakers publicly urging Starmer, 63, to quit, no candidate has yet mounted a formal leadership challenge against him. There are thought to be just a handful of names capable of mustering the required 81 signatures.

Here’s a look at who they are.

Wes Streeting

There are two camps in the Labour Party at present: Those who say they want a “rapid” change in leadership mean they favor Wes Streeting, the health secretary. Those who say they want an “orderly” transition of power mean they favor Andy Burnham, the current mayor of Greater Manchester – on whom, more later.

Streeting, the minister tasked with repairing Britain’s depleted National Health Service (NHS), hails from the right of the Labour Party. Most of his life has been spent in and around politics: First as president of the National Union of Students, then as a local councilor, before serving as a Member of Parliament for a borough in East London, near the public housing estate on which he grew up.

Streeting has often expressed admiration for the government of Tony Blair, who was prime minister while Streeting was a student at the University of Cambridge. Although he briefly left Labour over Blair’s support for the Iraq War, Streeting is said to have channeled “Blairism” in his mission to overhaul the NHS, through supporting public-private partnerships and technological reform. Streeting has previously warned the NHS must “modernize or die.”

At just 43, Streeting has long been considered the moderate future of Labour and is praised as one of the government’s most effective communicators. But he has been harmed by his friendship with Peter Mandelson, the veteran Labour politician who was fired as Britain’s ambassador to Washington over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender. Given how that scandal has dogged Starmer, Streeting may also be tainted by that association.

Andy Burnham

Burnham’s backers want things to move slowly because, as mayor of Manchester, he is not an MP, and as such cannot – yet – stand to be Labour’s next leader.

That hurdle could prove insurmountable. Burnham, 56, had hoped to run for a seat in Parliament in a constituency near Manchester earlier this year, but was blocked by Labour’s National Executive Committee, in a decision that many saw as an attempt to prevent Starmer’s most formidable rival from being able to challenge him as leader.

Most opinion polls show that Burnham is the most popular politician in Britain. Where Starmer is often accused of lacking a political vision, Burnham champions “Manchesterism” – a brand of business-friendly, “aspirational socialism” that seeks to put essential services back in public control and make life “doable” for ordinary Britons.

Burnham, also Cambridge-educated, points to the success of his policies in Manchester – the fastest-growing city economy in Britain, where he has been elected mayor for three consecutive terms – and asks why his bold vision cannot be brought to the rest of the country.

In Westminster, however, Burnham enjoyed less success. Although he was an MP for more than 15 years, his two previous attempts to become leader of the Labour Party were underwhelming. Burnham was also damaged after he told the New Statesman magazine last year that Britain had “got to get beyond this thing of being in hock to the bond markets,” suggesting that the government should pursue more radical economic policies. The mayor’s mere comments caused a spike in the yield on British government bonds.

Angela Rayner

Starmer is often criticized for being buttoned-up and lawyerly. The same could not be said about Angela Rayner, his former deputy prime minister, whose earthy, extroverted manner appeals to many young Labour voters and old-fashioned socialists.

Rayner, 46, grew up poor on the outskirts of Manchester and became a mother at 16. She has said that she did not have books in her childhood home because her mother – who had Bipolar disorder – could not read or write. Rayner trained as a carer for older people, and worked as a trade union representative, which she said persuaded her to enter politics.

As Starmer’s deputy, and as housing secretary, Rayner was responsible for many of the policies of which the Labour government is most proud. She enacted housebuilding reforms, raised the minimum wage, introduced reforms to support renters and passed legislation to clamp down on “exploitative” zero-hours employment contracts, due to come into force next year.

Rayner resigned as deputy last year after a scandal over her failure to pay enough property tax on a second home on England’s southern coast. Rayner claimed her mistake was unwitting and based on poor legal advice, but her unresolved tax affairs could blight a bid to oust Starmer as leader.

In a letter to Starmer on Sunday, Rayner stopped short of calling for him to resign, but warned: “What we are doing isn’t working and it needs to change. This may be our last chance.”

Dark horses

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, 45, is seen as a rising star in the party. Tasked with cracking down on illegal immigration, some hope that she could appeal to voters on the right of the party.

Ed Miliband, the energy secretary and a former leader of the Labour Party, is also thought to be a contender. In polls of Labour Party members – mostly climate-conscious teachers, public sector workers and trade unionists – Miliband is reportedly the most popular choice to succeed Starmer.

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