Wesley Paul William Streeting (/ˈstriːtɪŋ/; born 21 January 1983) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care since July 2024.

Following Labour's victory in the general election, Streeting was appointed Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in the Starmer cabinet.

[6][7] He recalls Conservative Party politicians, particularly Ann Widdecombe, in the 1990s "denigrating single-parent families like mine, which I took quite personally".

Shortly after his election as NUS President, Streeting was appointed as a member of the government's Youth Citizenship Commission, chaired by Professor Jonathan Tonge of the University of Liverpool, which published its report in June 2009.

[14] Streeting supported university tuition fees as president, consistent with UK government policy during the New Labour years.

[15] In 2009, while President of the NUS, Streeting posted tweets about wanting to push Daily Mail journalist Jan Moir 'under a train'.

[21] In 2010, shortly after leaving PwC, Streeting was appointed as Head of Policy and Strategic Communications for Oona King's unsuccessful bid to win the Labour Party's nomination to be its candidate in the 2012 London Mayoral election.

At a public meeting of the Redbridge Citizens' Assembly on 6 May 2014, Streeting promised on behalf of his group that, if they won the election, they would not reduce the level of Council Tax support provided to low-income working-age residents.

According to Labour, the refusal was due to the company's poor record on worker's rights and hostile stance towards trade unions.

[39][40] Streeting campaigned in favour of the United Kingdom remaining in the European Union in the run-up to the 2016 EU membership referendum.

[45][46][47] He is also a co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims and a supporter of Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East.

[51][52] Shortly before the 2019 general election, Streeting told a Labour First meeting that the party faced electoral oblivion in any snap poll due to the leadership's poor handling of Brexit and allegations of antisemitism.

[58] Following the election of Keir Starmer as Leader of the Labour Party, Streeting was appointed Shadow Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury.

On 16 October 2020, Streeting became Shadow Minister for Schools in succession to Margaret Greenwood, who had resigned the previous day following her opposition to the Covert Human Intelligence Sources (Criminal Conduct) Bill.

[61] Streeting was ranked sixth in the New Statesman's Left Power List of May 2023, described as "one of the most prominent and confident members" of the shadow cabinet.

[65] Streeting welcomed the final report of the Cass Review, which dealt with gender services for children and young people, in April 2024.

[66][67] At the 2024 general election, Streeting retained his Ilford North constituency by a margin of only 528 votes following a challenge by independent British-Palestinian candidate Leanne Mohamad, who ran in protest against Labour's stance on the Israel-Hamas war and the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

[72] Declaring the NHS to be broken, Streeting vowed to resolve the junior doctor strikes and decrease waiting times.

[73] In November 2024, Streeting cautioned NHS leaders that consistently failing hospitals will be publicly identified, with managers held accountable, potentially facing removal and restrictions on future employment in the sector.

[75] He has promoted the establishment of a Good Work Commission to bring together the relevant stakeholders to negotiate a new employment rights settlement.

[41] In 2018, he stated that a hard Brexit would address voters' concerns regarding sovereignty and migration but would provoke significant economic harm.

[83] Streeting is opposed to legislation on assisted dying, announcing in October 2024 that he would be voting against Kim Leadbeater's Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill.

The Labour government gave its MPs a free vote on the legislation, and Streeting said he was concerned the current state of palliative care meant patients could feel 'guilt-tripped' into ending their lives.

[84] He attracted criticism from some colleagues including Harriet Harman[85] for ordering a review of the costs of assisted dying, warning that it would “come at the expense of other choices”.

[89] After the 2024 general election, Streeting defended and upheld the previous Conservative Government's ban on private prescriptions of puberty blockers exclusively for transgender youth,[90] and announced an indefinite ban of puberty blocker prescriptions for transgender under-18s in both the NHS and private sector in December of the same year.

[92][93] In October 2023, Dancey was selected as Labour's prospective parliamentary candidate for Stockton West at the 2024 general election[94] although was unsuccessful.

He is never self-aggrandising, yet part of his appeal is his naked ambition; in a recent interview he was unequivocal about wanting one day to be prime minister.

Streeting is a self-confessed Christian geek who never stopped reading and who wore his school merit badges with pride, but I was left searching for the intellect on which all his achievements were built.