Streeting Reignites War With No.10 As Mandelson Messages Show Him Criticising Government
Wes Streeting has gone to war with No.10 again as it emerged he criticised the government in private messages to Peter Mandelson.
The health secretary accused Keir Starmer’s allies of briefing against him with claims that he was behind Anas Sarwar’s failed coup against the prime minister.
Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, became the most senior party figure to call on Starmer to resign yesterday.
However, the attempted putsch spectacularly failed as more than 100 Labour MPs, including every cabinet minister went public to back the prime minister.
The prime minister was also given a rousing reception as he addressed a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party on Monday evening.
Some Labour figures speculated that Sarwar may have been acting with the approval of Streeting, who has never made any secret of his own leadership ambitions.
But a spokesperson for Streeting said: “Wes did not ask Anas to do this, he did not co-ordinate with Anas on this.
“Anas is the leader of the Scottish Labour Party, he is his own man, and Wes has the highest respect for him.
“At the same time as Wes was in an interview saying that Keir needed a chance to set out his case and his plan, No.10 were briefing that Wes had told Anas Sarwar to make his statement. This is the problem.”
That was a reference to an interview Streeting did on Monday with Sky News political editor Beth Rigby on her Electoral Dysfunction podcast.
In it, the health secretary replied “no” when asked whether the PM should quit.
However, he also published WhatsApp messages between him and Mandelson, the disgraced former Labour peer, in which he is critical of the government in areas including the economy and the war in Gaza.
In one, Streeting says: “There isn’t a clear answer to the question: why Labour?”
Mandelson replied that the government “doesn’t have an economic philosophy which is then followed through in a programme of policies”, to which Streeting said: “No growth strategy at all.”
On Gaza, Streeting said Israel was “committing war crimes before our eyes” and engaging in “rogue state behaviour”, putting him at odds with the official government policy on the conflict.
Elsewhere in the messages, Streeting – who only retained his Ilford North seat in 2024 with a majority of 528 – said he was “toast at the next election”.
By voluntarily releasing his messages with Mandelson, Streeting is attempting to get ahead of the story about his links with the former UK ambassador to America, who is now facing a criminal investigation over claims he leaked sensitive government information to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Although the pair sign off some of their messages with kisses, Streeting insisted he was “not a close friend of Peter Mandelson”.
A Labour source said the controversy had scuppered any hope Streeting had of being prime minister.
“Someone needs to take Wes to one side and tell him, you’re not getting it,” the source told HuffPost UK.
It is not the first time Streeting has clashed with Downing Street in recent weeks.
Just last month, The Times reported that three cabinet ministers had called for the PM to sack his health secretary.
But a spokesperson for Streeting hit back: “It’s a real shame that Keir’s so-called allies are briefing against Wes yet again, when they should be talking about the second biggest fall in waiting lists in 15 years, and ambulances arriving 15 minutes faster with Labour.
“Given Reform and the Tories are at each other’s throats right now, this briefing is also incredibly stupid.”