Wes Streeting | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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![]() Official portrait, 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Assumed office 5 July 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Prime Minister | Keir Starmer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Victoria Atkins | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Member of Parliament for Ilford North | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Assumed office 7 May 2015 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Lee Scott | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Majority | 528 (1.1%) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Member of Redbridge London Borough Council for Aldborough Chadwell (2010–2014) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 8 July 2010 – 3 May 2018 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
53rd President of the National Union of Students | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 1 July 2008 – 10 June 2010 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Gemma Tumelty | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Aaron Porter | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Wesley Paul William Streeting 21 January 1983 Stepney, London, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Political party | Labour | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Domestic partner | Joe Dancey | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Residence | London Borough of Redbridge | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alma mater | University of Cambridge | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Signature | ![]() | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Website | www | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.[1] A member of the Labour Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ilford North since 2015.
Brought up in Stepney, Streeting attended Westminster City School. He studied history at the University of Cambridge and was President of the Cambridge Students' Union from 2004 to 2005. He was the president of the National Union of Students (NUS) from 2008 to 2010. He also worked for Progress, a Labour Party-related organisation, for a year before working in the public sector. In 2010, he was elected to the Redbridge London Borough Council for the Labour Party and became Deputy Leader of the council in May 2014. Streeting was elected to parliament as MP for Ilford North in the 2015 general election and resigned as the council's deputy leader before standing down as a councillor in 2018. He was reelected in both the 2017 and 2019 general elections.
Streeting endorsed Jess Phillips for the 2020 Labour leadership election and Rosena Allin-Khan for the deputy leadership election. However, he later supported Ian Murray for the deputy leadership after Allin-Khan was defeated. Following Keir Starmer's election as Labour Party leader in the leadership election, he joined the frontbench as Shadow Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury in April 2020. He became the Shadow Minister for Schools in October 2020 after the resignation of Margaret Greenwood before joining the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Child Poverty in the May 2021 British shadow cabinet reshuffle. In the November 2021 shadow cabinet reshuffle, Streeting became, following a promotion by Starmer, the Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care; a position he remained in until July 2024.
Streeting retained his seat in the 2024 general election by a narrow margin, defeating independent candidate Leanne Mohamad. After Labour's victory in the general election, Streeting was appointed Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in the Starmer cabinet. He declared the NHS to be broken and has vowed to resolve the junior doctor strikes and decrease waiting times.