On the menu was vigorous debate about Keir Starmer, the Labour Party leader and UK prime minister. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPAWes StreetingStarmer’s dwindling band of allies and his Downing Street team see the UK’s health secretary Streeting (42) as the biggest threat. He is openly ambitious and has never denied that he wants the job of prime minister one day. The warning operation blew up in their faces and the prime minister called his health secretary to apologise. That is lowly for a Labour health secretary who has spent heavily on Britain’s cherished National Health Service.

Source: The Irish Times December 25, 2025 06:12 UTC