By William James
LONDON, May 13 (Reuters) - Britain's grand State Opening of Parliament ceremony does not normally feature an elephant.
But on Wednesday, there was a large figurative elephant in the room: an imminent leadership challenge that could put Prime Minister Keir Starmer out of a job before the summer and consign his freshly minted plan for government to the scrapheap.
Starmer has weathered days of growing calls to quit after his Labour Party suffered heavy losses in local and regional elections,
and was looking to a ceremonial address from King Charles as a way to reassert his authority and "get on with the job of changing our country for the better".
DIFFICULT DAY FOR STARMER
But what had already promised to be a difficult day - in which he would be forced to mingle in front of television cameras with opponents who have delighted in his woes - took a turn for the worse at around 1000 GMT.
The Times newspaper reported that Wes Streeting, Starmer's health minister and arguably best-positioned rival to challenge his position, was poised to resign and fire the starting gun on a leadership contest.
When the news broke, King Charles, dressed in full ceremonial military dress and accompanied by his wife Queen Camilla, was still approaching parliament in his royal carriage.
Streeting's team had no immediate comment. Earlier they said he didn't want to distract from the King's Speech.
THE SHOW MUST GO ON
Minutes later, Starmer led a procession of lawmakers from one chamber of parliament, the House of Commons, to another, the House of Lords, part of the complex, centuries-old ritual of reopening the legislature that takes place roughly every year.
As the king's representative knocked loudly on the heavy door, one lawmaker joked "Not now, Andy", in reference to Andy Burnham, another possible challenger, who is currently mayor of Greater Manchester and thus not entitled to take part in the ceremony.
Television footage showed the prime minister making stiff small talk with Kemi Badenoch, leader of the main opposition Conservative Party who on Tuesday had posted on social media that Starmer would be lucky to survive two weeks in his job, let alone two years.
The lawmakers in his own party - almost a quarter of whom want him to quit - followed behind.
The king then read out a speech written by Starmer's government, setting out their plans for the next 12 months.
He closed his speech with the line: "I pray that the blessing of Almighty God may rest upon your counsels."
(Reporting by William JamesEditing by Gareth Jones)
