[Abernathy]

Surprised that there was no existing thread about Wes, so I thought I'd start one.

Streeting was on the Kuenssberg show this morning, and for my money demonstrated why he is one of the best, and most articulate communicators that Labour has. Asked by Kuenssberg whether, in the light of Sarah Pochin's (Reform MP) remarks about advertising featuring too many black and brown people, he thought that this meant that some of Reform UK's politicians actually were racist, he did not hold back. He didn't say that he did not think Pochin was a racist but that she has said something racist or espoused racist policies. He didn't weasel about like slimey Chris Philp on the same show and say that he "would not have put it that way but that it was okay to express legitimate concerns about immigration". He went in studs up with both feet and delivered a corruscating excoriation of Pochin, Farage, and the whole Reform UK carnival of race-hate. I was practically standing up and applauding the tellybox, and would have been had I not still been lying in my wanking chariot.

Go Wes.

[Tubby Isaacs]

He's a good attack dog, and despite what some people say, he doesn't "just attack the left". Nor is he particularly "Zionist", to use the favored euphemism among such people. But he has been unnecessarily obnoxious a couple of times, and I wonder if he'd be better in a different role.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

He's fine where he is!

[Tubby Isaacs]

His performance is fine but he's drowned out with "Streeting's Private Health Donors" (mostly unfairly). Health is somewhere you can have somebody more popular with the base, as it's a core vote issue.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

I'd rather have an achiever!

[Tubby Isaacs]

There are plenty of others. And he could lose his seat next time.

[The Weeping Angel]

Who should replace him?

[Tubby Isaacs]

Don't know, but won't be a problem. It's not like replacing the PM or Chancellor, which would make the Government look like the Tory soap opera.

[mattomac]

I think Labour could lose many seats next election.

[kreuzberger]

Wow, Streeting on tonight's edition of The News Agents.

Spoiler: we are not fucked, not by a long chalk.

[Abernathy]

I don’t get it. Apparently, some “senior cabinet ministers” are saying that Keir Starmer should follow Badenough’s example and sack Wes Streeting, supposedly for “disloyalty” .

One cabinet minister told The Times that Starmer should learn from Kemi Badenoch's sacking of Robert Jenrick, adding that what Streeting is doing is so 'obvious, he is repeatedly breaching collective responsibility, he is attacking No 10, he is undermining all of us.'

This is surely absolute bollocks. With fucking knobs on.

I can’t think of a single example of Streeting “disloyalty”, let alone of him breaching collective responsibility.

Sacking Wes Streeting would be to trigger absolute, fatal chaos in Starmer’s government. Which is presumably why the Mail, the Times, and the Torygraph are bigging up the “story”.

[Malcolm Armsteen]

That's the media's destabilisation tactics again...

[Tubby Isaacs]

Not Streeting's biggest fan, but I'm old enough to remember when "Boris being Boris" was regarded as refreshingly honest, albeit not by Theresa May. Same with Farage, a character.

[mattomac]

Wasn’t he yesterday saying the party should be attacking the opposition not themselves, evidently who he meant wasn’t happy.

Then again it could just be made up.

[Tubby Isaacs]

One cabinet minister told The Times that Starmer should learn from Kemi Badenoch's sacking of Robert Jenrick, adding that what Streeting is doing is so 'obvious, he is repeatedly breaching collective responsibility, he is attacking No 10, he is undermining all of us.'

This is surely absolute bollocks. With fucking knobs on.

I can’t think of a single example of Streeting “disloyalty”, let alone of him breaching collective responsibility.

Sacking Wes Streeting would be to trigger absolute, fatal chaos in Starmer’s government. Which is presumably why the Mail, the Times, and the Torygraph are bigging up the “story”.

I'm reminded of The Day Today "What did he actually say, Peter?"

- Peter, the only quote you've got here is some moaning about Wes Streeting going.a bit far, and making the government look bad, isn't it?
- But Chris, er...
- Do you know what Robert Jenrick was sacked for, Peter? Was it being a bit outspoken?
- Umm er
- PETER!
- Umm, no. He was sacked because he was about to join another political party?
- So Wes Streeting is about to join the Lib Dems?
- Um no, Chris.
- So the situation isn't the same as Jenrick-Badenoch, is it?
- No.
- Peter, did he actually say "sack like Kemi Badenoch sacked Jenrick"? I notice you didn't put that in quotes.
- He didn't literally say it.
-It was you who literally said it, wasn't it?
-Er

[Abernathy]

Streeting is, as I noted in the OP kicking off this thread, a quite superb communicator, but I really doubt whether he is the answer to Labour’s current unfavourable poll ratings and results.

The current political “wisdom” is that he is about to resign from cabinet tomorrow and formally launch a leadership challenge to Keir Starmer, with the required backing of 81 Labour MPs. Some of those 81 required names supporting Streeting are on the government payroll, and would have to resign their posts in order to support Streeting’s leadership bid - it isn’t clear whether or not they would be prepared to sacrifice their careers to back Streeting.

If Streeting does succeed in engineering a leadership contest, I don’t think he will succeed in defeating Keir Starmer. I certainly do not think I could vote for him.

[Samanfur]

If Wes Streeting is the answer, it was a bloody stupid question.

[Boiler]

There is no question to which "Wes Streeting" is the correct answer - except perhaps, "who was that we found in a Suffolk ditch, tied up in a secondhand hessian sack?"

[Tubby Isaacs]

You know I'm not convinced this woman was a great loss as an MP. Streeting did grow up in a single parent family in Stepney.

She knows full well that Redbridge Council had big cuts from central government and couldn't raise rates.