Do we like them?

Do we like Wes Streeting?

Our score: 5 out of 10. Real LGBTQ+ roots, but a trans-youth health decision many campaigners call harmful, and a messy leadership run.

Streeting's public life started in LGBTQ+ campaigning. PinkNews reported him in 2015 as a former Stonewall campaigner when he won Ilford North for Labour. That history is why his later calls on trans policy sting so much for many in the community.

The recent drama is pure Westminster. Through late 2025 and early 2026 he was dogged by reports that he was plotting against Keir Starmer, and allies of other ministers were publicly batting away claims about who briefed what. In May he quit as Health Secretary and told Bloomberg he would stand in any Labour leadership race. Starmer went, Andy Burnham took over, and Streeting walked into the Defence job, to a few raised eyebrows about his lack of defence background.

In February he published his private text messages with Peter Mandelson, saying he had nothing to hide, while the government warned other ministers not to follow suit. It was a bid to put distance between himself and a man tangled up in the Epstein fallout, and plenty of people read it as damage control. Nothing there points to wrongdoing on his part, but it adds to a picture of a man who plays the political game hard.

On the harm test, the big one is trans kids. As Health Secretary he defended and then extended the ban on puberty blockers for under-18s, after the Cass Review found the evidence base weak. Trans campaigners were furious, protested outside his office and called the move cruel, while supporters say he was following the clinical review. Where you land depends on whether you read it as caution on the evidence or as taking healthcare away from trans young people.

On Gaza, critics on the left argue his public statements have shifted with the political wind, and Novara Media has called his explanations unconvincing. Others note he moved towards sharper criticism of Israel's conduct over time and in leaked private messages. That is a contested area, and the record is mixed rather than damning.

The good stuff is thinner than we'd like in what we could verify: the Stonewall roots, a long parliamentary career, and sticking his head up as a publicly gay cabinet minister who says he gets a torrent of nasty online messages aimed at him. That hate says nothing bad about him. Still, we couldn't confirm a long list of charity or kind acts, so this one is a mixed bag, not a champion.