Wes Streeting Resigns as Keir Starmer Faces Bond Market Bracing in London Political Drama

Bond markets braced for U.K. instability on Thursday as Prime Minister Keir Starmer faced pressure from potential challengers to his leadership after Health Secretary Wes Streeting resigned around midday in London.

“British and Danish prime ministers discuss strengthening security cooperation”

Anadolu Ajansı

Streeting told Starmer in his resignation letter that it was "now clear that you will not lead the Labour Party into the next general election," citing last week's "unprecedented" local council election losses.

Anadolu Ajansı

CNBC said the yield on the benchmark 10-year bond, or gilts, stood at 5.028% as of midday London time, while the interest rate on the 30-year gilt hovered around 5.695%.

The BBC described how, in 12 hours of political drama, Angela Rayner slipped into a London hotel suite to secretly pre-record a TV interview about resolving her tax affairs with HMRC, and then both Rayner’s interviews dropped at 06:00 on Thursday morning.

The BBC also said Streeting’s resignation came shortly after at 12:58 BST on Thursday, when he posted the news on X while Starmer was on the way to meet apprentices in south west London.

The BBC said Rayner’s return followed an email from HMRC landing in the inbox of her tax lawyer Graham Aaronson on Tuesday afternoon, and it reported that her team said the key point was she had been cleared of either tax dodging or being careless.

It added that Rayner settled £40,000 in unpaid stamp duty, and that the timing of HMRC’s decision was unexpected but potentially perfect as MPs were split on Starmer’s future and a leadership contest looked possible.

BBC

CNBC reported that Chancellor Rachel Reeves told the BBC earlier Thursday that a leadership contest "would plunge the country into chaos."

CNBC also quoted Saxo UK investor strategist Neil Wilson saying, "Everything seems to be aligning for a leadership contest that will unease bond investors," and it described James Turner at BlackRock warning about leadership uncertainty alongside inflation coming through from the Middle East and oil prices rising.

The BBC further said Streeting told Sir Keir in a brief face-to-face meeting on Wednesday that he had lost confidence in the prime minister's leadership, and it described critics dubbing him a "bottler" for not having amassed enough MPs to formally launch a challenge.

Separate from the domestic political turmoil, Anadolu Ajansı reported that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen discussed Arctic security and broader security cooperation during bilateral talks on Thursday at Chequers, the British prime minister's official country residence.

“Bond traders were bracing for more U”

CNBC

The Anadolu Ajansı account said Starmer and Frederiksen agreed that Arctic security was an issue that concerns NATO as a whole and that Europe and NATO would continue to promote progress, while also discussing how London and Copenhagen could deepen security cooperation by strengthening interoperability of armed forces.

It said Starmer condemned Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure and that the leaders discussed the next steps for the Volunteer Coalition.

Anadolu Ajansı also reported that the two leaders examined the situation in the Middle East, with Starmer saying it was essential to reach the second phase of the Gaza peace plan.

In the same Anadolu Ajansı report, Frederiksen told Danish media earlier on Thursday that Greenland's sovereignty was non-negotiable, noting that NATO could not negotiate on behalf of Denmark or Greenland.