James Murray is appointed as health secretary after Wes Streeting’s resignation – live updates

It’s been another hectic day inside the Westminster bubble as a growing psychodrama continues to engulf the Labour party.

• Wes Streeting resigned as Health Secretary, criticising the ‘drift’ at the top of Government and told the Prime Minister it is ‘clear’ he will not lead Labour into the next election. But he refused to announce a leadership charge
• Meanwhile, Angela Rayner said HMRC cleared her of wrongdoing over her tax affairs – amid reports she will either join Andy Burnham’s push for the Labour throne or mount her own challenge
• Starmer loyalist Rachel Reeves urged MPs to not threaten the ‘economic stability’ of the UK by ‘plunging the country into chaos’
• Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson rather optimistically tried to set the political agenda this afternoon, claiming Streeting’s resignation marked a chance for Labour to ‘draw a line’ under leadership debate
• This was proved to be rather fanciful just two hours later as Josh Simons – the MP for Makerfield in Wigan – announced he will be standing to make way for Andy Burnham to swoop in and gain a seat in the House of Commons
• Right on cue, Andy Burnham then confirmed he will be requesting the permission of Labour’s NEC to stand in the Makerfield by-election.

After a period of eerie detente, the Labour Cold War has well and truly warmed up.

Keir Starmer will not block Andy Burnham from running as the Labour candidate in Makerfield, it is understood.

It comes after Mr Burnham was barred from running in the Gorton and Denton by-election earlier this year by Labour’s National Executive Committee.

An ally of the PM told the BBC:

Keir is focused on bringing the party together so it can tackle the issues facing working families.

Wes Streeting has quit as Health Secretary, paving the way for a potential leadership challenge against Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

In his resignation letter, Mr Streeting criticised the ‘drift’ at the top of Government and told the Prime Minister it is ‘clear’ he will not lead Labour into the next election.

Mr Streeting’s resignation follows days of turmoil in which calls have mounted for the Prime Minister to step down in the wake of Labour’s election mauling last week.

…is the question I’m sure is on thousands of lips this evening, after he was hurriedly unveiled as the new Health Secretary.

As if to demonstrate the frantic nature of the appointment, Mr Murray’s announcement letter was released with inconsistent formatting and a few different fonts.

Indeed, only this morning he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘[Streeting] is the Health Secretary, and I hope he is the Health Secretary by the end of the day.’

Well, the MP for Ealing North was proved dramatically wrong, as another crazy 24 hours in Westminster actually ended with a promotion from his previous role as Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

He had been the executive member for housing and development at Islington Council from 2010 until 2016, having been elected as councillor back in 2006.

He then became London’s deputy mayor for housing from 2016 to 2019 before his election as an MP.

Nigel Farage has vowed to ‘throw absolutely everything’ at the Makerfield by-election, in what will be the most dramatic and consequential race in over half a century.

The insurgent Right-wing party immediately published numbers suggesting they stormed to victory in the constituency at last week’s local election.

Of the eight wards within Mr Simons’s seat that went to the polls, Reform UK won every single one and trounced the Labour Party.

Mr Farage secured 50.4 per cent of the vote, compared to Labour’s dismal 22.7 per cent.

According to polling experts Britain Predicts, Reform would take the seat if a general election were held tomorrow, clearing Labour by 13 points.

Wes Streeting has just issued a congratulation message to James Murray, who is succeeding him as Health Secretary.

He wrote:

Congratulations to @jamesmurray_ldn on his promotion to Health & Social Care Secretary.

He inherits a wonderful team and an important mission. He has my full support.

Reform have kicked off their campaign in Makerfield in record time, barely leaving the final specks of dust to settle on Andy Burnham’s bombshell announcement this evening.

The party will open their selection for a candidate at some point tonight, The Sun reports, and will close the applications on Sunday.

A Reform source said: ‘We’re not wasting any time.’

Amid the ongoing Labour chaos, another Green Party story has slipped under the radar – days after Zack Polanski admitted making a ‘mistake’ over his houseboat council tax.

The party leader has accepted this afternoon that he did not vote in last week’s local elections, having previously claimed he submitted a postal vote for his Hackney ward.

He also said he would be voting for the Greens’ mayoral candidate in the borough, Zoë Garbett, who ended up winning the contest without Polanski putting a cross next to her name.

A spokesman for the party suggested the leader had not registered to vote over ‘fears for his safety’, The Times reports.

James Murray has in the last few moments been appointed as the new Health Secretary.

He replaces Wes Streeting who stood down today over Sir Keir Starmer’s premiership.

The MP for Ealing North has previously served as Chief Secretary to the Treasury and is a Starmer loyalist.

He is replaced in his Treasury position by Lucy Rigby.

The Liberal Democrats have come out strongly in response to the news that Josh Simons has vacated his seat to make way for Andy Burnham.

They accused Labour of demonstrating ‘contempt’ for the people of Makerfield.

Lisa Smart, spokesperson for the Lib Dem Cabinet Office, said: ‘The arrogance of these men is staggering. To believe that representing a community is a gift to be handed to your mate shows utterly, out-of-touch contempt.

‘Labour’s internal psychodrama has triggered this by-election so they should pay for the consequences — all £5 million pounds’ worth of the mayoral election.’

The Prime Minister has faced more calls to stand down, this time from his namesake Keir Mather, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport.

The minister – at 28, the youngest since William Gladstone – also backed Andy Burnham to fight a leadership contest.

He said: ‘Andy Burnham should be allowed to stand for selection in Makerfield. Local members know best who should take on Reform, and they should be able to make that choice.’

Scotland Secretary Douglas Alexander argued that the NEC was right to block Andy Burnham from running in Gorton and Denton earlier this year, but claimed the circumstances had now changed.

He told Sky News:

So at the time that that decision was taken a few months back, I said it was about the moment and not the man.

The NEC is charged with reaching a decision as to what’s in the overall interests of the Labour Party. That was the decision that the NEC officers reached a few months back.

The Commons has been a cauldron of grief, anger and fear for Labour MPs in recent days.

And in that context, Number Ten has indicated that they certainly wouldn’t endeavour to block Andy coming in.