Nandy calls speculation on leadership challenge ‘froth and nonsense’
The culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, has said the prime minister Keir Starmer will not have resigned by the school summer holidays, despite a major challenge to his leadership after the local election results.
“He was very clear with the cabinet on Tuesday, that if people want to challenge him there is a process for doing that, there is a way to trigger a leadership contest,” Nandy said. “Nobody has done that yet, despite the absolute feverish speculation.
“Most of it has turned out to be just froth and nonsense. We have got to get on with the job.”
“,”elementId”:”3a3893a1-f137-474b-9548-5a20be53496c”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Lisa Nandy said the government was “trying to take a far more pragmatic approach” of forming a closer relationship with the EU, “rather than re-opening the Brexit wars”.
“,”elementId”:”3d49eafe-c964-4d99-add4-3cc0907ad646″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Commenting on her former cabinet colleague’s position, Nandy said: “I just think it’s a bit odd if I’m honest. Essentially, If re-joining the EU is the answer to what we were just told loud and clear by the country and parts of the country like mine where we lost 25 out of 25 wards, then essentially what we are saying to people is life was fine in 2015, we just need to go back there.”
“,”elementId”:”44da8b36-9eab-46bc-ab89-5c10f2ee769a”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Nandy said Streeting will “hear loud and clear from people” while campaigning that the public in Leave voting areas did not agree with his stance.”
“,”elementId”:”3171b0a4-985a-4ed8-8e51-436490fec94f”}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1779004406000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”03.53 EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1779004754000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”03.59 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1779004754000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”03.59 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”03.59″,”title”:”Culture secretary brands Streeting’s call to rejoin the EU \”a bit odd\””,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Sun 17 May 2026 04.06 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Sun 17 May 2026 03.48 EDT”},{“id”:”6a09703c8f080104b7fb9b42″,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
The culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, has said the prime minister Keir Starmer will not have resigned by the school summer holidays, despite a major challenge to his leadership after the local election results.
“,”elementId”:”fb4e22e5-d3c2-4136-b778-750946831f5d”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
“He was very clear with the cabinet on Tuesday, that if people want to challenge him there is a process for doing that, there is a way to trigger a leadership contest,” Nandy said. “Nobody has done that yet, despite the absolute feverish speculation.
“,”elementId”:”104a35c5-bcff-43d4-99c3-dc8daa69326a”},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
“Most of it has turned out to be just froth and nonsense. We have got to get on with the job.”
“,”elementId”:”a7e22e1f-d7f2-4e2e-9a9a-e86948444200″}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:true,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1779004126000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”03.48 EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1779004123000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”03.48 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1779004126000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”03.48 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”03.48″,”title”:”Nandy calls speculation on leadership challenge ‘froth and nonsense'”,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Sun 17 May 2026 04.06 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Sun 17 May 2026 03.48 EDT”}],”filterKeyEvents”:false,”id”:”key-events-carousel-mobile”,”renderingTarget”:”Web”,”serverTime”:1779005226090}”>
Key events
Lisa Nandy told Trevor Phillips the leadership crisis in the Labour party was “really winding” her up, during her morning interview on Sky News.
“I am sorry if I am coming across as a bit irritated, I think what is really winding me up if I’m honest is that people told us loud and clear last Thursday that things weren’t good enough, that they needed far more fundamental far more urgent change in their lives.
“Somehow we seem to have just completely cut them out of the conversation in the last week and Westminster has gone into introspection mode where the debate is being led about personalities and about individuals,
“What I think the public really need to hear from us right now is that we’ve got a plan to turn things around.”
Culture secretary brands Streeting’s call to rejoin the EU “a bit odd”
Asked about former health secretary Wes Streeting’s call for the UK to re-join the European Union, the culture secretary called the stance “a bit odd”
Lisa Nandy said the government was “trying to take a far more pragmatic approach” of forming a closer relationship with the EU, “rather than re-opening the Brexit wars”.
Commenting on her former cabinet colleague’s position, Nandy said: “I just think it’s a bit odd if I’m honest. Essentially, If re-joining the EU is the answer to what we were just told loud and clear by the country and parts of the country like mine where we lost 25 out of 25 wards, then essentially what we are saying to people is life was fine in 2015, we just need to go back there.”
Nandy said Streeting will “hear loud and clear from people” while campaigning that the public in Leave voting areas did not agree with his stance.”
Asked by Trevor Phillips on Sky News why she had not told Andy Burnham to “stay in Manchester”, Lisa Nandy said she wanted the Greater Manchester Mayor – whose decision to stand as an MP has led to a by-election in Makerfield – to return to Westminster.
“When you say, ‘stay in Manchester’, we can hear you up north. Our voices matter in national politics. Andy brings a perspective from this part of the country that has not been heard loud and clear enough in Westminster for decades,” the culture secretary said.
The sort of fights we have been prepared to have in recent years, the fight for renters, the fight for workers, the fight for football fans – people need to see more of that from us. I think Andy can come and bring that perspective and that fight and that energy to this team.”
Nandy calls speculation on leadership challenge ‘froth and nonsense’
The culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, has said the prime minister Keir Starmer will not have resigned by the school summer holidays, despite a major challenge to his leadership after the local election results.
“He was very clear with the cabinet on Tuesday, that if people want to challenge him there is a process for doing that, there is a way to trigger a leadership contest,” Nandy said. “Nobody has done that yet, despite the absolute feverish speculation.
“Most of it has turned out to be just froth and nonsense. We have got to get on with the job.”
