LONDON(National Times)- Wes Streeting, Britain’s health secretary until he quit his post earlier this week, has become the first MP to confirm publicly he will bid to replace Prime Minister Keir Starmer as leader of the ruling Labour party.
Widely credited as one of the party’s best communicators, the ebullient 43-year-old hails from a working class background and the right flank of the centre-left party.
A fixture on the airwaves during the 2024 general election, his profile has grown further helming the government department responsible for the cherished but beleaguered National Health Service (NHS) in England.
Rumours have swirled for months he was eyeing a leadership challenge amid Starmer’s protracted political struggles, earning the scorn of some Labour colleagues unconvinced by the wisdom of a contest or Streeting’s credentials. In his resignation letter, Streeting said he had “lost confidence” in Starmer’s leadership, arguing he lacked vision and a sense of direction.
In a speech on Saturday, he called for a “proper contest” to replace the premier and announced “I’ll be standing” — though he was yet to formally trigger that contest.
A direct-speaking, polished media performer to his plaudits, a disloyal right-leaning opportunist to critics, the baby-faced politician increasingly divides opinion within Labour’s ranks while his popularity nationwide is largely untested.
“He has got a very acute political sense and an ability to communicate,” Steven Fielding, a contemporary British politics expert at the University of Nottingham said.
“But there are certain questions about his politics and how well they fit with at least where the Labour Party is today, and in terms of how different he might be to Keir Starmer.”
‘Authentic working class’
Streeting’s pro-market, anti-Brexit outlook and other centrist stances could prove problematic with Labour members charged with choosing a new leader — who automatically becomes prime minister given the party won the last election.
Born to teen parents and raised on a municipal East London housing complex, Streeting frequently highlights his humble upbringing.
He has spoken about his maternal grandmother giving birth in a London prison, while his grandfather was an armed robber who knew notorious London gangsters the Kray Brothers.
“My family … are very, very far removed from the Westminster bubble,” he told a podcast last year.
After attending a state-funded school and Cambridge University, he entered politics through the centrist think tank Progress, founded in the 1990s by allies of ex-prime minister Tony Blair.
Elected an MP for an east London seat in 2015, he was a critic of the party’s leftward shift under then-leader Jeremy Corbyn and only entered the shadow cabinet once Starmer had replaced Corbyn.
As health secretary he has reversed the tide on ballooning hospital appointment waiting lists, but has had a fractious relationship with some sectors, including striking junior doctors. “He’s had the opportunity to be a big public service reformer and he hasn’t really done it,” an ex-senior Labour adviser said.
