Britain’s former health minister Wes Streeting 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 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 told AFP.
“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 told AFP.
However, public policy professor Patrick Diamond of Queen Mary, University of London, said Streeting “appears to offer much of what Labour is currently lacking as a political party”.
He possesses “an authentic working-class background and an ability to connect with voters”.
‘Unexpectedly fascinating’
Others note his approval ratings are unimpressive. A YouGov tracker shows he is disliked by 30% of respondents and popular with just 12% — placing him 52nd among British politicians.
Streeting is openly gay and an Anglican, telling a Christian publication “my faith made it very difficult to accept my sexuality”.
He is known in political circles as an extrovert, belting out Robbie Williams’ “Angels” on karaoke with the words “I’m loving Starmer instead” at one Labour party conference.
Last September, he said the mere notion of challenging Starmer was “disrespectful”.
“A lot of people are quite angry with him over what’s happened over the last few days,” the former Labour advisor said, accusing Streeting of an “over-eagerness” for power which “may be his undoing”.
“The problem with Wes is he’s always appeared to want it too much,” he added.
Streeting penned a 2023 memoir — “One Boy, Two Bills and a Fry Up” — which one The Guardian critic said “pulls off the very rare trick of being both a little bit boring and unexpectedly fascinating”.
Critics say the fact he wrote it before the age of 40 shows his naked ambition.
Meanwhile, Streeting has faced blowback over his longstanding links to Labour grandee Peter Mandelson, now a toxic figure sacked as US ambassador over his association with the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
He has denied being close friends with Mandelson.