Gay Labour MP becomes Health Secretary
July 9, 2024Prime minister Keir Starmer has appointed Wes Streeting, the openly gay MP for Ilford North, as the UK’s health secretary.
Starmer is currently assembling his Cabinet following Labour’s decisive victory in the general election. With results still pending from two constituencies, Labour is expected to have 412 MPs in the new parliament, according to ‘MSN’.
This outcome represents a significant and historic defeat for former prime minister Rishi Sunak, as the Conservative Party lost 250 seats.
Streeting has been a key ally of Starmer. In 2021, he was appointed the shadow health and social care secretary. A former Stonewall campaigner, Streeting was elected as an MP in 2015, the same year as Starmer.
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However, as the votes were tallied in his constituency last night, Streeting narrowly avoided losing his seat. He garnered 15,647 votes, while Leanne Mohamad, an Independent candidate who campaigned on a pro-Palestine platform opposing Starmer’s stance on the war in Gaza, received 15,119 votes.
Streeting’s appointment may cause concern among LGBTQ+ activists due to his stance on the inclusion of trans women in single-sex hospital wards.
In January, Streeting expressed support for placing transgender hospital patients in their own separate wards. During the general election campaign, he faced backlash from the LGBTQ+ community for his comments regretting his previous statement that “trans women are women, trans men are men… get over it”.
His shift in position on gender identity followed the release of the Cass Report, an independent review that assessed England's trans youth clinics and proposed changes to the care model for trans youth. Dr. Hilary Cass, the author of the review, has been nominated as a cross-party peer by the outgoing Prime Minister Sunak.
Streeting supported the report’s recommendation of exercising “extreme caution” when prescribing gender-affirming healthcare, such as hormones or puberty blockers, to individuals under 18.
He also argued that it is “wrong” to label gender-critical feminists as “bigoted” and apologised to Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield, known for her controversial views on trans people.
Last year, Streeting expressed regret for how some Labour MPs, including himself, had previously handled Duffield’s views.
Streeting lives with his fiancé Joe Dancey, who ran for the Stockton West seat – part of former PM Tony Blair’s old constituency – in the general election but did not succeed, losing by about 2,000 votes to the Conservative candidate.
Other Cabinet appointments announced so far include Rachel Reeves as chancellor – the first woman to hold the position – and Angela Rayner as deputy prime minister. David Lammy has been appointed foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper is the new home secretary, and Shabana Mahmood has been named justice secretary.
As anticipated, Bridget Phillipson is the new education secretary, with former Labour leader Ed Miliband taking on the role of energy secretary. Jonathan Reynolds has been appointed business secretary, while John Healey assumes the position of defence secretary.
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