Streeting’s success has always been fuelled by sucking up to the rich and powerful
What are the skeletons in Streeting’s closet? (Pic: Number 10/Flickr)
Health secretary Wes Streeting’s desperation to become Labour leader drips from his every pore.
He does not have a history of left wing activism to bury. He has always sucked up to the rich and powerful, to the privatisers, the weapons manufacturers and the warmongers.
In February, Streeting felt obliged to publish his private messages to Peter Mandelson—friend of deceased billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. He denies he was close to Mandelson, but several texts are signed with a kiss.
The texts reveal that in June 2025 Mandelson told Streeting that, if he visited the US, there would be “lots of tech companies and people” for him to speak to. These “tech people” probably included US multinational giant Palantir, which now has access to NHS records.
Keir Starmer toured Palantir offices when he visited Washington DC that same month.
In April 2025, it was revealed that Streeting had received donations of around £10,000 a month, every month, from private health companies.
Some 60 percent of all the donations he received since 2015 came from private health care companies—a total of £372,000.
Peter Hearn is the boss of healthcare workers’ recruitment firms MPM Connect and OPD Group. His companies have given Streeting nearly £200,000. And Hearn has personally donated £40,000 to Streeting.
John Armitage is a hedge fund manager with investments of half a billion dollars in United Health, the US’s largest health insurance company. He has given Streeting £95,000.
Kevin Craig is the founder and CEO of PLMR, a political consultancy that advises a firm that recruits temporary staff for the NHS. He has given Streeting £13,000.
Red Capital Ltd—which is controlled by a director of Europa Healthcare Group, Lord Jonathan Mendelsohn—has chucked £5,000 Streeting’s way.
What are these health care companies getting for their investment in Streeting?
He has staunchly defended the use of private healthcare in the NHS.
He has long argued that treating NHS patients in the private sector is not only the “pragmatic” thing to do, but also the “principled” thing to do.
“The private healthcare market is worth about £13 billion in Britain,” according to the Good Law Project. “Streeting’s financial backing comes overwhelmingly from those with interests in private healthcare.”
And, it’s not only private health care bosses who are pouring money into Streeting’s pocket.
Streeting was the first of Keir Starmer’s first shadow ministers to visit Israel before Labour was elected.
His 2022 visit, which cost around £5,000, was paid for by Labour Friends of Israel (LFI), which works really closely with the Israeli embassy in London.
LFI also paid for one of Streeting’s staff, Sarah Harrison, to visit Israel with him.
Streeting was sent on a four-day “fact finding mission” where he met with “Israeli health experts, health tech start-ups, politicians, academics and diplomats.”
“I wanted to return to Israel to see the incredible advances in medical technology being developed here, some of which blew me away,” Streeting gushed. “Israel is ten years ahead of the NHS.”
Sir Trevor Chinn, a senior advisor to a firm holding investments in several private health companies, gave Streeting £18,500.
For over 40 years, Chinn funded both Labour and Conservative Friends of Israel. He also played a key role in the British Israel Communications and Research Centre (Bicom) and the Zionist Jewish Leadership Council.
The Guardian newspaper called Bicom “Britain’s most active pro-Israel lobbying organisation.
“It flies journalists to Israel on fact-finding trips and organises access to senior government figures,” it said.
David Menton, the former director of Bicom, donated £2,230 to Streeting. Two months later, his wife donated a further £2,230.
Streeting has also been funded by other major corporate interests. He spoke at two panels organised by JP Morgan in 2018 and 2019 Streeting was paid £10,000.
In April 2019 he was paid £5,388 to visit San Francisco to participate in a trade and technology delegation. Sponsors for his trip included the world’s largest weapons company, Lockheed Martin.
Streeting will not stem the haemorrhaging Labour’s support—he may well kill the patient.