Wes Streeting, a man in a hurry, has never concealed his desire to reach the highest echelons of British politics. By the age of 40, he had survived a cancer scare, published a memoir of his impoverished childhood in London's East End, and was being touted as a future prime minister.
A Champion of the Centre-Right
A fluent and effective communicator, Streeting is seen as a champion of Labour's centre-right, openly patriotic and strong on law and order. He has been compared to Tony Blair, though he rejects the label 'Blairite' as too divisive. His rapid ascent from a lone-parent family in a Stepney council flat to cabinet minister via the presidency of Cambridge Students' Union has drawn admiration but also criticism for his unabashed ambition.
Promoted by Sir Keir Starmer as one of the party's rising stars, Streeting angered the Prime Minister's allies with what they perceived as barely disguised plotting as Labour's fortunes declined in government. As health secretary, he sought to expand the private sector's role in treating NHS patients and clashed with resident doctors over their 'morally reprehensible' strikes for an inflation-busting pay claim.
Personal Background and Early Life
A committed Christian, Streeting struggled with his sexuality as a young man before coming out as gay in his second year at university. If he becomes leader, he would be Britain's first openly gay prime minister. One of eight siblings, his mother was 18 and unmarried when she became pregnant. Both her boyfriend (Streeting's father) and her mother wanted an abortion, but she refused.
Although his father later embraced him, the relationship with his mother did not last, leaving her to raise him largely alone in his early years. Growing up among working-class children, he was conscious of being 'poor working class' and stung by Tory criticism of single-parent families. Money was tight; they often used candlelight because his mother couldn't afford to top up the electricity meter, and cockroaches from neighboring flats were a problem.
His maternal grandfather was an armed robber who knew the Krays and spent much of his childhood in and out of prison. His grandmother once shared a prison cell with Christine Keeler, central to the 1960s Profumo affair. Despite their straitened circumstances, his mother ensured he was surrounded by books. When he moved in with his father as a teen, he was pushed to excel at school and attend university.
Education and Early Career
His opportunity came when a teacher spotted his potential and suggested he apply to Westminster City School, a high-performing state academy. From there, he won a place to read history at Cambridge. Arriving with 'a bit of a working class chip on my shoulder,' his ambitions soon surfaced as he won election as president of Cambridge Students' Union, then president of the National Union of Students.
After working for the Blairite pressure group Progress, he won a seat on Redbridge Council in east London in 2010. Two years later, he was part of Oona King's unsuccessful bid to replace Ken Livingstone as Labour's London mayoral candidate. In the 2015 general election, he took Ilford North from the Tories with a majority of just 589, on a night of Conservative triumph.
Rise in Westminster
At Westminster, he caught the eye of political opponents, including Chancellor George Osborne, an admirer of Tony Blair, who picked him out as a future star. When Jeremy Corbyn became Labour leader, Streeting was one of his most outspoken critics on the backbenches, lambasting his failure to tackle antisemitism. Corbyn's replacement by Sir Keir after the 2019 election saw Streeting's rapid rise through the frontbench ranks, starting as a shadow Treasury minister and entering the shadow cabinet in 2021 as shadow secretary for child poverty.
His progress was briefly interrupted when he stepped back from frontline politics after a kidney cancer diagnosis, but he returned within four months after a successful operation to remove one kidney. When Sir Keir faced demands to resign over alleged Covid lockdown breaches, Streeting defended him, warning potential rivals against 'flashing some ankle' to burnish leadership credentials, calling it 'deeply disrespectful' and 'hindering the Labour Party.'
Recent Challenges and Controversies
His loyalty was rewarded with promotion to shadow health secretary, marking him as a potential future leader. However, as Labour's poll ratings sank after their 2024 general election victory, relations between the two men soured. Sir Keir's allies feared Streeting was plotting a coup, prompting him to demand an end to 'self-defeating' briefings against him.
His ambitions suffered a setback with the US disclosure of details of the relationship between Lord Mandelson, a close ally, and paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein. Initially defending his old friend, Streeting later distanced himself as more evidence emerged, saying Mandelson had betrayed his country. Whether such associations will damage him among party members eager to move on from its Blairite past remains to be seen.
