Wes Streeting: ‘Andy Burnham doesn’t live rent free in my head’ – podcast
5/22/202639 min
Pippa Crerar sits down with Wes Streeting a week after his resignation from Keir Starmer’s cabinet. We find out what the former health secretary really thinks about Andy Burnham, where Labour has got it wrong and his vision for the leadership. Watch the full episode in video on YouTube here. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/politicspod
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsKai Wright0:00
This is The Guardian.
Pippa Crerar· Host0:01
[instrumental music] Did you have the numbers? Did you feel the quest?
Wes Streeting· Guest0:11
Yes, absolutely.
Pippa Crerar· Host0:12
But you had more than 80 MPs.
Wes Streeting· Guest0:13
Yes, I did. I do think it's inevitable that Keir has to go.
Pippa Crerar· Host0:18
Is that a criticism of Andy Burnham?
Wes Streeting· Guest0:21
A- Andy Burnham doesn't live rent-free in my head. This is the problem with the freedom to speak, is that- [laughs] ... freedom to speak liberally. I'll try and be- No, no, no ... shorter, sharper.
Pippa Crerar· Host0:30
I'm Pippa Crerar, and this is Politics Weekly for The Guardian. We're bringing you a special interview with Wes Streeting, the former health secretary who quit the cabinet last week. We're going to be finding out what he really thinks about some of the big issues facing the country now he's no longer in the cabinet, what he would do if there was a Labor leadership contest against Andy Burnham, and what he's really up to right now. Wes, you quit as health secretary just a week ago. We're sitting here on Thursday morning. How does it feel?
Wes Streeting· Guest1:06
Hmm. Uh, it's been a weird week. This is the first time the six week... s- sorry, six years that I haven't been on the front bench of the Labor Party and bound by collective responsibility, and it's been the first time, I think since I became shadow health secretary four and a half years ago,