LONDON: The UK health minister was on Wednesday forced to repeatedly deny he planned to oust Prime Minister Keir Starmer, hours after sources said the premier would fight off any leadership challenge, despite plummeting poll ratings.
“I’m not going in to demand the prime minister’s resignation,” Wes Streeting told Sky News. “I support the prime minister. I have done since he was elected leader of the Labour Party.”
The 42-year-old has long been seen as a potential replacement for Starmer.
His denial, repeated to other broadcasters, follow anonymous briefings by Starmer allies who on Sunday told journalists he would fight any attempt to replace him.
“Keir knows he is already fighting a leadership contest. When it comes, he won’t resign. He will fight it,” one supporter was quoted as saying by The Times daily.
The government’s poll ratings have nosedived since Starmer won power in July last year.
Despite securing a landslide election victory, his government has struggled on issues such as economic growth and immigration.
Brexit figurehead Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party has been leading by double-digit margins in many national polls for much of this year.
The next general election is not expected until 2029 but the government faces an important test at local elections in May 2026.
A challenge for the leadership of the Labour Party would require the support of 20 percent of the party’s MPs, which currently means 80 nominations would be needed.
![]()
UK health minister denies plotting against PM Starmer
Short Url
https://arab.news/yyn2h
UK health minister denies plotting against PM Starmer
- Health chief Wes Streeting has long been seen as a potential replacement for Keir Starmer
- The government’s poll ratings have nosedived since Starmer won power in July last year
Former French minister Lang summoned over Epstein links, source says
- Pressure grows on ex-culture minister to quit Paris-based Arab World Institute
- Jack Lang’s correspondence with Epstein raises questions about their relationship
PARIS: Pressure rose on Friday on former French culture minister Jack Lang to resign as president of the Arab World Institute over his ties to late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, after he was summoned to the foreign ministry to discuss the matter.
Lang said earlier this week he had been unaware of Epstein’s 2008 sex-offense conviction when they met in around 2012, describing the financier as an acquaintance interested in art and cinema introduced to him by US film-maker Woody Allen.
The 86-year-old former minister, head of the Arab World Institute since 2013, has not been accused of wrongdoing. Lang told BFMTV on Wednesday that Epstein was not a friend, that he knew little about the convicted sex offender, but had found him to be “passionate about art, culture and cinema.”
But files released by the US Department of Justice last week raise questions about Lang’s characterization of his relationship with Epstein.
They show Epstein and Lang corresponding intermittently between 2012 and the financier’s 2019 death by suicide in jail.
In an email sent by Lang to Epstein on April 7, 2017, nearly a decade after the financier was convicted of soliciting prostitution from an underage girl, he thanked Epstein for a “splendid time” the previous day.
“Your friendship, the amazing pl=ne (sic)m and your extraordinary generosity really touched us,” Lang wrote.
Lang, who served multiple terms as culture and education minister between 1981 and 2002, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lang urged to ‘think about the institution’
A source close to President Emmanuel Macron said the presidency and prime minister’s office had asked relevant ministers to summon Lang and encourage him to “think about the institution.” The foreign ministry said a summons had been issued.
The Arab World Institute is a cultural and research institution that promotes understanding of the Arab world and is located in Paris on the banks of the Seine river.
Lang’s name appears over 600 times in the Epstein files, according to a Reuters review of the documents.
“I fear nothing, and I am clean as a whistle,” Lang told French radio RTL on Wednesday.
The files dump has heightened scrutiny of Epstein’s global connections with public figures, including Britain’s Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the younger brother of King Charles, and Peter Mandelson, the former UK ambassador to the United States.
On Monday, Lang’s daughter Caroline resigned as head of France’s Independent Production Union after her own links to Epstein surfaced.
Both father and daughter deny wrongdoing, with Caroline telling BFMTV on Thursday she only knew about Epstein’s 2008 conviction after he told her to look him up on Google in 2014.
Lang said earlier this week he had been unaware of Epstein’s 2008 sex-offense conviction when they met in around 2012, describing the financier as an acquaintance interested in art and cinema introduced to him by US film-maker Woody Allen.
The 86-year-old former minister, head of the Arab World Institute since 2013, has not been accused of wrongdoing. Lang told BFMTV on Wednesday that Epstein was not a friend, that he knew little about the convicted sex offender, but had found him to be “passionate about art, culture and cinema.”
But files released by the US Department of Justice last week raise questions about Lang’s characterization of his relationship with Epstein.
They show Epstein and Lang corresponding intermittently between 2012 and the financier’s 2019 death by suicide in jail.
In an email sent by Lang to Epstein on April 7, 2017, nearly a decade after the financier was convicted of soliciting prostitution from an underage girl, he thanked Epstein for a “splendid time” the previous day.
“Your friendship, the amazing pl=ne (sic)m and your extraordinary generosity really touched us,” Lang wrote.
Lang, who served multiple terms as culture and education minister between 1981 and 2002, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lang urged to ‘think about the institution’
A source close to President Emmanuel Macron said the presidency and prime minister’s office had asked relevant ministers to summon Lang and encourage him to “think about the institution.” The foreign ministry said a summons had been issued.
The Arab World Institute is a cultural and research institution that promotes understanding of the Arab world and is located in Paris on the banks of the Seine river.
Lang’s name appears over 600 times in the Epstein files, according to a Reuters review of the documents.
“I fear nothing, and I am clean as a whistle,” Lang told French radio RTL on Wednesday.
The files dump has heightened scrutiny of Epstein’s global connections with public figures, including Britain’s Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the younger brother of King Charles, and Peter Mandelson, the former UK ambassador to the United States.
On Monday, Lang’s daughter Caroline resigned as head of France’s Independent Production Union after her own links to Epstein surfaced.
Both father and daughter deny wrongdoing, with Caroline telling BFMTV on Thursday she only knew about Epstein’s 2008 conviction after he told her to look him up on Google in 2014.
Latest updates
© 2026 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.