UK's ex-health minister to run to replace PM Starmer

LONDON, May 16: Wes Streeting, who resigned as UK health secretary this week, announced Saturday he will run to replace Keir Starmer as Labour leader and prime minister, after the party suffered disastrous local election results.

"We need a proper contest with the best candidates on the field, and I'll be standing," Streeting said Saturday in a speech and question-and-answer session at a think tank event in London.

Streeting quit the government Thursday with a withering assessment of Starmer's leadership, but no other senior minister followed suit and the 43-year-old MP did not immediately trigger a leadership contest.

Later that day, Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham unveiled a bid to become an MP which, if successful, would allow him to stand in that contest.    �"AFP