Multiple British media outlets on Wednesday said Starmer would fight any challenge to his leadership if he faced a threat, possibly as soon as after the budget on Nov 26.

“The prime minister is not fighting for his job this morning,” Streeting told LBC radio.

Streeting and the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, were named as possible candidates to challenge Starmer.

“It’s (a) totally self defeating briefing, not least because it’s not true,” Streeting told Sky News.

“I’m not going to demand the prime minister’s resignation. I support the Prime Minister. I have done since he was elected leader of the Labour Party.”

Starmer steered Labour to a landslide victory in 2024 but the party has struggled in government, languishing in the polls behind Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

Finance minister Rachel Reeves is expected to increase taxes to raise tens of billions of pounds at her second budget later this month to fill a fiscal hole and tackle the sluggish economy.