Wes Streeting denied plotting to oust Keir Starmer.

Ailbhe Rea met the Health Secretary to learn what he's really thinking.

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Ailbhe writes:

Labour is in danger of presenting itself as the “maintenance department for the country”, he says. “The problem with that kind of practical, technocratic approach is that if someone else comes along and says, ‘Well, I’ve got a maintenance company too, and mine’s cheaper,’ why wouldn’t people go, ‘OK, well, we’ll give that maintenance team a try’?” He doesn’t name Starmer, but the critique of the Prime Minister’s “practical, technocratic” leadership is clear.

Streeting has denied plotting against the Labour leader. But when we speak, he strikes me as someone planning for what may lie ahead. I meet a cabinet minister ranging beyond his brief, thinking seriously about what his party needs to do to win the next election – and beginning to outline an alternative to that “maintenance department” approach.

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Ailbhe Rea joins Anoosh Chakelian on Daily Politics from the New Statesman to discuss her interview with Wes Streeting, including the behind-the-scenes parts she couldn't reveal in her article.

📚 READ

Wes Streeting: "I'm pretty frustrated, to be honest"

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2025/12/wes-streeting-im-pretty-frustrated

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Wes Streeting is "pretty frustrated, tbh"

Daily Politics from the New Statesman