Street

NHS experts and MPs say he ‘told a good story’ as health secretary while kicking the difficult cans down the roadUK politics live – latest updatesWes Streeting’s 22 months in office was characterised by relentless media interviews, newspaper editorials and Department of Health and Social Care press releases. They portrayed a dynamic health secretary who was clearing up the mess he inherited in the NHS, pushing ahead with radical changes and making progress on what matters most to patients – accessing care when they need it.Having initially declared the NHS “broken” – by the Conservatives – it is six months since he first declared that the health service was now, on his watch, “on the road to recovery” – a claim he has made regularly since. He included the gist of it again – a sort of greatest hits collection – in his resignation letter to Keir Starmer at lunchtime on Thursday. Continue reading...

Now former health secretary and Manchester mayor could be about to make an unlikely deal to oust Keir StarmerWho said the Labour party needs “a battle of ideas, not of personalities or petty factionalism … It needs to be broad, and it needs the best possible field of candidates”?Until this morning, almost everyone would have attributed those words to Andy Burnham, the mayor or Greater Manchester. But those were the closing paragraphs of the former health secretary Wes Streeting’s resignation letter, a cadence so similar to Burnham’s own that it cannot be accidental. Continue reading...

Streeting, who is on the party’s right, had long been rumoured to be gathering support for tilt at leadershipUK politics live – latest updatesWes Streeting has quit as health secretary and called on Keir Starmer to resign as prime minister, saying it would have been “dishonourable” to remain in post and that there should now be a contest for the Labour leadership.But Streeting, who is on the party’s right, will not immediately launch a challenge and said he wanted to see a leadership contest with a broad range of candidates – a suggestion that the Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, could fight in the contest. Continue reading...

Outgoing health secretary declares Labour’s ‘plan for the NHS is working’ as hospitals hit key targetHospitals in England have hit a key target for improving the time it takes patients to get treatment, which prompted Wes Streeting to declare that Labour’s “plan for the NHS is working” before departing as health secretary.Streeting had told the NHS to ensure that hospitals treated at least 65% of patients within 18 weeks by the end of March. New figures NHS England published today showed that hospitals did so, treating 65.3% on the NHS waiting list within that timeframe in March. Continue reading...

Despite slim majority of 528, many constituents of potential Labour leadership candidate seem rather fond of himUK politics live – latest updatesWes Streeting’s potential leadership bid has been the subject of mockery from figures within Labour, while the Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch’s slapdown of the now former health secretary in the Commons on Wednesday went viral on social media.However, in Streeting’s parliamentary seat of Ilford North, his constituents seem rather fond of him and pleased with the prospect that their MP could get the keys to No 10. Lesley, who works in Tesco in Barkingside, said: “He’d be very good. He comes into Tesco’s a lot, he’s a nice man. He talks to all of us.” Continue reading...

Source claims Streeting has enough support to challenge Keir Starmer but he is still hoping PM will resignUK politics live – latest updatesWes Streeting is locked in a standoff with Number 10 as allies claimed he had the numbers to launch a challenge but still hoped the prime minister would resign.The health secretary had been widely expected to launch a leadership challenge on Thursday and has told supporters he has got the 81 MPs required to launch a formal contest. A source close to Streeting said he had the numbers but “things are shifting”. Continue reading...

• Wall Street traded mixed on Wednesday morning, with the S&P 500 down 0.1%, Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 235 points or 0.5% at 9:35 a.m. ET, and Nasdaq up 0.2% amid a technology sector rebound. • Tech stocks like Micron Technology surged 4.3% and Nvidia rose 2.4%, the top gainer on the S&P 500, following a pause in AI-driven momentum; Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was invited by President Trump to discuss AI chip shipments to China. • A wholesale inflation report showed prices significantly higher than expected last month, following Tuesday's consumer inflation acceleration, driven by rising fuel, transportation, food prices from tariffs, weather, and oil disruptions from the Iran war.