A rising star in Sir Keir Starmer’s frontbench team has announced he is to temporarily step back from politics after he was diagnosed with kidney cancer at the age of 38.
Wes Streeting said the confirmation of his illness had come as “an enormous shock” but that his prognosis was good.
In a video message posted on his Twitter feed, the shadow child poverty secretary, who was promoted last week, said he would not be returning to work until he had made a full recovery.
Sir Keir, who described Mr Streeting as a friend as well as a colleague, said he was sure he would return “even stronger and more determined than ever before”.
In a video message the Ilford North MP said: “Back in early March, I went into hospital with a kidney stone and, at the time, a scan identified a lump on the same kidney.
“Around a month later, in April, unfortunately that lump was diagnosed as kidney cancer.
“While receiving a cancer diagnosis at the age of 38 has come as an enormous shock, the good news is because of that kidney stone the cancer has been caught early, my prognosis is very good, and I should make a full recovery.”
He added: “But it does mean I have to take time off work for treatment.
“My family have made it very clear – and actually so has Keir – that I will not be coming back until I’ve made a full recovery.
“Hopefully that won’t be too long but in the meantime, bear with me and thank you very much in advance for your support.”
Mr Streeting, a former president of the National Union of Students, is regarded as a staunch ally of Sir Keir.
He was an outspoken critic of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, over his failure to tackle anti-semitism in the party.
Sir Keir has lost a number of key members of his team in recent days. His parliamentary aide Carolyn Harris stood down after she was accused of exacerbating tensions between Sir Keir and his deputy Angela Rayner in the wake of last week’s defeat in the Hartlepool by-election.
And shadow minister Kate Hollern resigned after she was accused of trying to intimidate a colleague who was helping a parliamentary staffer who had raised allegations of sexual harassment against a former Labour MP.
