Good morning. There are two main events in the diary today. At this point, it is not entirely clear which will turn out to be more consequential.
At 11.15am the king will arrive at parliament for the state opening. The king’s speech sets out the legislative programme for the next year. Kiran Stacey has a preview here.
Read moreIn normal circumstances, this is one of the big events in the annual political calender – although most of what is in the speech has been well trailed, so it is more a day for ceremony than surprise. We will get plenty of information; alongside the speech, the government publishes a 100-page briefing pack, with outline details of all the bills coming up over the next 12 months.
At some before the king arrives, Keir Starmer has another appointment in Downing Street, where he is meeting Wes Streeting, the health secretary who wants to replace him. Yesterday Starmer in effect challenged Streeting to ‘put up or shut up’ and, although some of Streeting’s allies have resigned from ministerial jobs, and others have joined the long list of Labour MPs publicly calling for Starmer’s resignation, by last night Streeting had still not launched a formal leadership challenge. In Downing Street they are starting to believe that Streeting has blinked because he does not have the support he needs to win a contest.
Starmer refused to meet Streeting for a one-to-one conversation after cabinet yesterday, but they will meet this morning. According to one report, Streeting will ask the PM “how he plans to ‘get us out of this mess’”. But we are not even sure whether he will tell Starmer he should set out a timetable for his departure.
When the king went to the US last month, he ended up functioning as a diplomatic peacekeeper, seeking to repair relations between Starmer and Donald Trump. Today Charles will be performing a similar job because Streeting’s allies are briefing that, out of respect for the king and to ensure that the state opening does not get overshadowed, Streeting does not intend to say anything about his meeting until much later. As Politico says, we may get something like “a 24-hour truce”. Whether hostilities resume tonight, or tomorrow, remains unclear.
And so, by tomorrow at the latest, we will find out what Streeting intends to do next. Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, claims to have found a Labour MP willing to stand down to allow him to run as the byelection candidate, and there are claims Burnham may have an announcement on this tomorrow.
Streeting is in Downing Street now. He arrived at 8.24am, according to the Press Association.
Morning: Keir Starmer meets Wes Streeting.
11.15am: The king arrives at Westminster for the state opening. He delivers his speech at around 11.30am.
2.30pm: MPs started their debate on the speech. After speeches from two government backbenchers proposing and seconding the speech, Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, and Starmer deliver speeches.
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