00:00Keir Starmer's leadership is in crisis.
00:02These are the candidates who could replace him and what they mean for markets.
00:06If a formal leadership challenge is launched against the weakened Prime Minister,
00:10Andy Burnham is widely seen as the frontrunner.
00:12The current mayor of Greater Manchester, nicknamed the King of the North,
00:16has topped polymarket predictions.
00:18Now, he's the preferred candidate of the left of the Labour Party,
00:21but fears that he'll loosen the fiscal rules brought in by Keir Starmer
00:24and his chancellor, Rachel Reeves, have spooked some investors.
00:28West Streeting, do you want to be Prime Minister?
00:31West Streeting has long sought the top job.
00:33He was health secretary in Keir Starmer's cabinet,
00:36and after days of rumblings, he resigned,
00:39criticising the Prime Minister as offering a vacuum instead of a vision.
00:43But crucially, Streeting didn't launch his own leadership bid.
00:47Coming from the Tony Blair-aligned wing of the party,
00:49Streeting is most likely seen as the candidate who will continue the fiscal restraints
00:53that Labour campaigned on in the 2024 election.
00:56Another to watch on the left of the party is the former Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner.
01:01She's recently been cleared of deliberate wrongdoing by an investigation into her tax affairs.
01:06So with that hurdle out of the way, Rayner did not rule out running against her former boss.
01:11Rayner has sought to reassure investors by insisting that Labour will keep a tight grip on the public finances.
01:17But she previously led a revolt in Cabinet against Rachel Reeves' plans to slash welfare spending.
01:22Another name being mentioned, an outside choice perhaps, is the Armed Forces Minister, Al-Khans.
01:27The Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper, could also launch a bid.
01:31With Starmer vowing to stay on and to contest any challenge,
01:34prepare for a process that could last weeks, if not months.
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