Wes Streeting on battling the Treasury, his plan for the NHS, and the reality of power
Political Currency
Persephonica
4.1 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 21 August 2025
⏱️ 76 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What is it really like to go from nine years in the political wilderness to running one of the most challenging departments in government? For Wes Streeting, Labour's Secretary of State for Health, it's a challenge he has been visibly relishing this past year, after a long, frustrating period fighting from the opposition benches.
With Ed Balls away interrailing, Streeting joins George Osborne to give him a candid inside look at Labour's first year in power, revealing what Keir Starmer is really like as a leader, the secret orders he gives his cabinet, and his ambitious plan to reform the NHS by shifting power to patients and focusing on prevention. Plus, he explains why he believes Nigel Farage and Reform UK are now the "real opposition" to the government.
Plus, Ed and George reunite to pull back the curtain on a subject of endless obsession for politicians and the press: ministerial cars. The pair explain why a minister's driver knows more about them than their own family, how drivers' gossip can make or break a career, and share hilarious and shocking stories involving heavy petting, a disastrous escape from a prime ministerial motorcade, and fish and chips with Gordon Brown. They also offer some crucial advice for any aspiring minister on how not to behave in the back of a Jag…
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Credits:
Producer: Miriam Hall
Senior Producer: Silvia Maresca
Video Editor: Maha Albadrawi
Executive Producer: Ellie Clifford
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This episode of political currency is sponsored by EDF, Britain's biggest generator of zero carbon electricity. |
| 0:06.5 | EDF say that they are helping customers save both cash and carbon. Take their Sunday save a challenge, |
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| 0:24.3 | And I've got to say, I've really got into driving electric vehicles in the last year or so. |
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| 0:43.8 | As EDF say, change is in our power. This episode is sponsored by SAGE and their AI |
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| 1:53.0 | This episode is sponsored by Spec Savers. |
| 1:56.0 | Over our political careers, we've mastered the art of selective hearing, but we do know it's important to make sure our ears and hearing are working well. Now, many people might not realize that spec savers aren't just about eyesight. They're also trusted hearing experts as well. And we know how important hearing is, don't we? I mean, in the House of Commons, I think what people don't realize, even if you watch it on television or listen to it on the radio, it's just how |
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