Markus Andrews

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThere aren’t many in Westminster who could namecheck the Krays, armed robberies, and their mother being born in prison when giving a summary of their family background.But Wes Streeting, who currently serves as Labour’s shadow health secretary and is frequently tipped as a future party leader, isn’t typical of most politicians.Now 41 years old, the MP for Ilford North has become one of the loudest and most forthright voices on Sir Keir Starmer’s front bench, appearing to embody the type of messaging Labour HQ believes is most likely to entice voters to deliver them into No 10 in just a few months’ time.An unusually direct communicator at a time of ever-increasing obfuscation, Streeting has been unafraid to depart with both long-held Labour orthodoxy and mainstream progressive opinion in service of his own particular brand of supposedly straightforward and “common sense” politics.This was notably evident this week, as he repeated his intention of increasing private access to the NHS to help cut waiting lists, in a characteristically punchy appeal to readers of The Sun newspaper.Warning that the NHS would get no extra funding from his department without undergoing “major surgery” and reform, Labour’s shadow health secretary insisted he was “up for the fight” with health unions and would not be deterred by “middle-class lefties” crying “betrayal” over privatisation.While marking no material departure from the rhetoric Streeting has been espousing for years, the pugilistic piece – softened somewhat by a reference to his own personal brush with kidney cancer, aged 38 – still managed to set social media alight on Monday, with detractors spreading his message far and wide to otherwise-unreached voters.Indeed, Streeting has become one of the most familiar faces on Starmer’s tightly reined frontbench, after enjoying a rapid rise from the backbenches in the wake of Jeremy Corbyn’s downfall, of whom – as a former member of the Blairite pressure group, Progress – Streeting has been an ardent and unceasing critic.The shadow health secretary, pictured behind Keir Starmer, has spoken of his own personal brush with kidney cancer at the age of 38 More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailLabour has pledged to give every child with type 1 diabetes a smartphone so they can access new glucose monitoring technology.The phones track blood sugar levels and work in conjunction with an “artificial pancreas” which automatically provides the patient with insulin when their levels are high.Monitoring children’s glucose levels prevents them from passing out or having a fit.Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said it is a “travesty” that only those who can afford a smartphone are currently able to access the new technology.In partnership with Virgin Media O2 and the Supporting Children with Diabetes charity, the party aims to ensure every family can benefit from a smartphone which is compatible with the new technology.Sir Keir told ITV News: “It’s a travesty that hundreds of children with type 1 diabetes can’t afford smartphones to take advantage of new monitors which check and monitor glucose levels.“This new technological breakthrough should be available to all children who need it, not to those who can afford a device.“We need an innovative and collaborative approach to tackle this head-on. That’s why my Labour government will work hand in glove with leading businesses to break down the barriers to access.“Our 10-year plan for change and modernisation of the NHS will bring our analogue service into the digital age.“We will secure the benefits of the revolution in medical technology for all. This is implementing traditional values in a modern setting.“That’s what an incoming, mission-led, Labour government will be all about. Under my leadership, a strong partnership between government, business and civil society will make our NHS fit for the future and give all children the best possible start in life.”This new technological breakthrough should be available to all children who need it, not to those who can afford a deviceLabour leader Sir Keir StarmerAround 32,000 children in the UK are currently living with the condition, but founder and CEO of the charity Supporting Children with Diabetes Carolyn Goldhill said many cannot afford a new smartphone and are forced to finger prick to test levels.Labour said the NHS will identify children with type 1 diabetes who are not using modern glucose monitors and direct them to the charity so it can provide them with a smartphone.The announcement comes after Sir Keir and shadow health secretary Wes Streeting visited Kings Mill Hospital Sutton-in-Ashfield in the East Midlands to meet nurses and patients in the maternity ward.The pair toured the hospital and highlighted the party’s pledge to digitise the red book given to parents for children’s medical records, as part of a series of changes to the NHS app.Mr Streeting said: “There is a revolution in medical technology taking place before our eyes. Under the Tories, the NHS is failing to secure the advantages of AI and new treatments for its patients, but private healthcare won’t.“If this continues, the two-tier healthcare system that is emerging in our country today will grow, the gap between public and private widen, and the NHS will become the poor man’s service. That is the future we must avoid.“Labour will reform the NHS so it takes full advantage of modern technology to deliver better care for all patients.”Ms Goodhill said she was “delighted” with the partnership, adding: “Since the NHS began supplying continuous glucose monitors to children with type 1 diabetes nearly two years ago, we have been inundated with requests for phones.“This technology enables young children to lead normal lives, whist their parents and diabetes nurses check their blood sugar levels remotely to ensure they are safe.“Many families don’t have the funds to buy a mobile phone that is compatible with the device and, without our charity, parents would be forced to revert to constant finger pricking to test blood sugar levels, and would not be able to be separated from their child.“This partnership will allow us to continue supplying phones to support children from deprived backgrounds, so they can benefit from the latest tech on the NHS.”Corporate Affairs director of Virgin Media O2 Nicola Green said: “As someone with type 1 diabetes, I have firsthand experience of how smartphone technology can help manage the condition.“The recycled devices that Virgin Media O2 is donating to Supporting Children with Diabetes will reduce the hassle and stress for those families affected by Diabetes, making it faster and easy to monitor blood glucose levels.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWes Streeting has warned that the NHS will get no extra funding from Labour without “major surgery” or reform, including more use of the private sector.The shadow health secretary insisted he would not be put off by “middle-class Lefties” who cry “betrayal” over using the private sector to bring down waiting lists – adding he was “up for the fight” with NHS unions. It is the latest in a series of bold statements about the health service by Mr Streeting, who said Labour will only give the NHS an extra £1billion pounds if medics work weekends to ensure more patients are seen. He wrote in The Sun: “The NHS is a service, not a shrine. It is judged by how well it serves the public, not how heavy a price we’re paying for failure.”Mr Streeting doubled down on his comments during an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, telling the show: “There’s a principled argument here, which is that those who can afford it are paying to go private, are being seen faster, and their outcomes and their life chances and their quality of life will be better. Those who can’t afford it are being left behind. And those tend to be people from working class backgrounds like mine, and I think that’s a disgrace.”Leader of the Labour Party Sir Keir Starmer and shadow health secretary Wes Streeting More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe leader of Reform UK has warned his candidates not to use social media after drinking alcohol, to avoid posting “inappropriate” comments.The party has ditched seven candidates for the upcoming election following complaints about their social media posts.Mr Tice said every party has their share of “morons” but added that he is committed to kicking them out quickly.At a press conference in London, he said: “We’re very clear to all our candidates, for heaven’s sake if you’re going to have a glass on a Friday night then don’t use social media.“It’s not sensible, if someone lets us down hereafter, then frankly if it is inappropriate, if it is unacceptable, then we’re going to part company.“So you can have your freedom of speech, your freedom of expression, that doesn’t mean you have the right to represent Reform UK as a parliamentary candidate, because that’s our choice.”Campaign group Hope Not Hate found tweets by candidates Jonathan Kay and Mick Greenhough in which they made derogatory comments about Muslims and Black people.Mr Kay, who was standing for election in South Ribble, tweeted in 2019 that Muslims “never coexist with others” and should be deported, and claimed Africans had IQs “among the lowest in the world”.Mr Greenhough, who was the Reform candidate in Orpington, tweeted in 2023 that “the only solution” was to “remove the Muslims from our territory” and in 2019 said Ashkenazi Jews were a “problem” and had “caused the world massive misery”.Hope Not Hate, which campaigns against the far right, said the pair were “wildly unsuitable for public office”.Both men were removed as Reform candidates, following the publication of Hope Not Hate’s findings last week.Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage is Reform UK’s honorary president (Victoria Jones/PA) More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailOfcom is investigating whether shadow foreign secretary David Lammy’s show on LBC breached broadasting rules, the watchdog has said.The regulator said it was probing whether the Labour’s frontbencher’s programme on 29 March “broke our rules on politicians acting as news presenters”, it said on Monday.During that broadcast, Mr Lammy read out a breaking news bulletin, informing listeners of his LBC show that Sir Jeffrey Donaldson had resigned as DUP leader after being charged with allegations of a historical nature.Ofcom is understood to be investigating the programme in relation to two sections of the Broadcasting Code, which state that news in whatever form must be presented with due impartiality, and that politicians cannot act as a newsreader, interviewer or reporter in any news programmes without exceptional editorial justification.As such, the regulator concluded last month that five programmes on GB News – featuring politicians acting as news presenters – broke broadcasting due impartiality rules.Days later, GB News broadcaster Darren Grimes was among those sharing a clip of Mr Lammy’s progrmame on 29 March as he broke the news of Sir Jeffrey’s resignation. Mr Grimes wrote: “Dear Ofcom, I assume you’ll be sanctioning them for this, as you did GB News.”Ofcom is understood to have received 53 complaints about Mr Lammy’s broadcast.While the arrival of GB News and its penchant for employing former and sitting Conservative MPs has intensified debate over the role of politicians in broadcasting, Ofcom chief Baron Michael Grade told the BBC last year that “we don’t want to be in the business of telling broadcasters, licensees, who they can employ, who they can’t employ”.Jacob Rees-Mogg hits out at ‘old-fashioned’ Ofcom after GB News rulingHe added: “Our job is to ensure … within the rules of due impartiality that there is plenty of choice and freedom of expression on the airwaves.”In addition to its probe into Mr Lammy, Ofcom announced on Monday that it had “warned TalkTV after potentially highly offensive comments were made by presenter Julia Hartley-Brewer”.In an interview about the Israel-Gaza war, Ms Hartley-Brewer had claimed that Dr Mustafa Barghouti, the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, was perhaps “not used to women talking”.Ofcom said: “Strong guidance has been issued, but following a careful assessment we have decided not to formally investigate.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailVladimir Putin will seek to exploit Rishi Sunak’s retreat from the European Convention on Human Rights, Gordon Brown has said in a stark warning to the prime minister.The former Labour PM accused Mr Sunak’s government of “systematically undermining” international law, warning that the Russian president – who is subject to an international arrest warrant over war crime allegations – would capitalise on any steps to “ridicule the legitimacy” of human rights law.Mr Sunak has threatened to pull the UK out of the convention if it stymies his flagship policy of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda. His looming new legislation will disapply sections of both the ECHR and the Human Rights Act – after British judges ruled the East African country was not safe for refugees.The UK has previously urged Russia to abide by a European court order relating to Moscow’s jailing of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny More

Tory MP William Wragg gives MPs blackmail advice two years before his honeytrap sexting scandal, in a resurfaced clip.Mr Wragg said MPs should report matters to the speaker and the Metropolitan Police if being blackmailed, as he addressed Parliament in the 2022 clip.Westminster has since been rocked by the sensational exposé of a honeytrap sexting scam targeting MPs, political journalists and parliamentary staffers. Mr Wragg revealed he lay at the heart of the scandal, admitting that he shared his colleagues’ phone numbers for fear of intimate images of him being leaked. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailLabour will digitise the NHS red book parents use for their children’s medical records as part of a series of reforms to the NHS app.Parents and the NHS would be able to see if children are behind on jabs or check-ups through a new digital record, with automatic notifications to prompt them to book appointments under the party’s plans.The red book has been handed out to new parents for the past 30 years.The problems with the NHS are clear. It’s a 20th century service that hasn’t changed with the times and isn’t fit for the modern eraWes StreetingPrevious health secretaries have hoped to digitise it during their tenure, including Jeremy Hunt and Matt Hancock, but so far the plans have not borne out.Labour hopes its plans will help to boost MMR vaccination rates, which have fallen in recent years.Measles outbreaks have at the same time become more common.Wes Streeting MP, Labour’s shadow health secretary, said: “A child born today will live to see the 22nd century and things we can’t begin to imagine. Labour wants them to be part of the healthiest generation that ever lived. That’s why we will digitise the red book, so children’s health records are on the NHS App.“This major step will transform children’s healthcare and will mean more children protected against measles. Now measles is back. It’s hard to think of a clearer sign of Britain’s decline under the Tories.“With the red book on the app, the NHS will be able to notify every parent of an unprotected child, give them accurate information about the MMR vaccine, and invite their child to get vaccinated. That’s how a modern health service would tackle this public health crisis.”Writing in the Sun newspaper, Mr Streeting insisted the NHS was “a service, not a shrine”.He added: “It is judged by how well it serves the public, not how heavy a price we’re paying for failure.“The problems with the NHS are clear. It’s a 20th century service that hasn’t changed with the times and isn’t fit for the modern era.”Labour will also commit to give patients greater control over their own healthcare through the NHS app.This would include access to their medical records on their phone, notifications about screenings and vaccines they are eligible for, and being told what care they can expect when diagnosed with long-term conditions like asthma or diabetes.Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer claimed his party would “give power to the patient”, and that GPs could ensure “time isn’t wasted on box-ticking”.“In 2024, patients still wait on the phone at 8am, or even queue up in person, just to see a doctor. It’s no wonder so many people don’t bother or don’t have time, illness is caught too late, pressures on the NHS pile up, and lives are lost,” he said.Sir Keir added: “The app shouldn’t just be for healthcare, but healthier living too. When you reach the right age, you’ll receive notifications for jabs, tests and screening, to catch diseases like breast and bowel cancer early.” More