Chris Mason: Starmer hopes to save his job with promise of change – and warnings of chaos

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31 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleChris MasonPolitical editor

PA Media

The State Opening of Parliament is the most British of occasions – and today it had the most British of ingredients: royals, regalia and rain.

But it had more than a splash of unconventional ingredients too.

Well before the King arrived in Parliament, the health secretary, Wes Streeting, was having coffee with the prime minister in Downing Street.

It was a swift visit – Streeting was in and out of the No10 door in just 17 minutes.

What happened in there? We don’t know, but business was clearly conducted swiftly.

What we have been told is that the health secretary’s allies expect him to challenge Sir Keir Starmer as soon as tomorrow.

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What is the King’s Speech and what happens during the State Opening of Parliament?

Alongside the plotting today, the pomp too, with the King’s arrival in Parliament, where – from the throne in the House of Lords – he outlined the government’s proposals for 37 bills and draft bills.

The State Opening is meant to be a day grounded in the government’s plans for the next year or so.

But the government is led by a man whose longevity in power could be considerably shorter.

The King’s Speech was scheduled for this week precisely because the government anticipated the need for a post elections refresh.

The prime minister told MPs it represented a “radical agenda”, setting a “new direction for Britain”.

Asked how the speech reflected the bold change that Sir Keir promised after last week’s election drubbing, the prime minister’s official spokesman said “what you’ve heard from the prime minister over the last few days is his commitment to change.”

So, a reboot? But it is getting the boot the prime minister now fears.

Once he had finished in the House of Commons, Sir Keir started putting in the hard yards of persuasion. He and supportive cabinet ministers worked the tearoom. He invited MPs into his office in Parliament.

The message was clear: he is up for the fight, he will stand in any contest – but he believes the very idea of a leadership challenge is irresponsible. He has always seen himself as the antidote to the chaos he railed against during the latter years of the Conservatives in government.

He argues a leadership debate will paralyse the government and cause chaos within the Labour Party. Can this argument shrink the potential support for Streeting or any other potential challengers?

But the prime minister also knows that a significant number of his MPs now think he is a loser – and a major factor in the scale of Labour’s defeats in elections in England, Scotland and Wales last week.

For those wannabe challengers, the challenge is trying to set out a distinctive and attractive alternative Labour agenda, that can appeal to MPs and party members – and convince them they would be more popular than Keir Starmer.

There is a big moment coming in the next 24 hours: for Wes Streeting, deciding to go for it or not, and the tone and tenor of any launch that he is planning.

For the prime minister, his back against the wall.

And for any others too, with designs on the top job.

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Chris Mason, BBC Political Editor