This is The Guardian.

I know there may be some listeners and viewers who think, hang on a minute, you're one of those

terrible right-wing labour people we hate, and Zach Polanski says you're a terrible right-winger.

I would rather scoop my own eyes out

with a teaspoon than privatise the NHS. I don't want to see the Labour Party careering all over

the shop, like a wonky shopping trolley out of control. I'm Pippa Carrera. And I'm Kieran

and you're listening to Politics Weekly for The Guardian. I should just say thunder outside.

Very ominous.

So we're joined by the Health Secretary Wes Streeting today.

Now, Wes, you've just given a major speech on some of the reforms you're making to the NHS

and what you plan to do.

You've been in post for about 20 months now.

If you had to give yourself a score out of 10, what would you give yourself?

I'm not going to do that because I've seen that movie before.

And in any case, I don't need to rate my own performance the public have and I am one of

16% of people who are currently optimistic about the NHS and its future. This was in the British

Social Attitude Survey today. That is actually depressingly low and beyond the substance of the speech I was giving today, which was an account of

what we've done so far and what we plan to do in the years ahead, what I wanted to do over and

above all of it is to give people a sense of optimism, confidence and hope that the NHS can and will be better in the years ahead.

And not the triumph of hope over experience, but now the triumph of hope through experience

of the first 20 months. NHS waiting lists are now the lowest they've been in three years.

Ambulance response times are the fastest they've been in half a decade. And even this winter, we saw the best

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