“There is a direct link between the work I’m doing now and the experience I had growing up”

@wesstreeting has a painful and personal understanding of his role as shadow secretary of state for child poverty

thetimes.co.uk/article/labour…
“Even among the working-class kids, it felt like we were the poor working class"

He can still feel the embarrassment of being on free school meals. “You had to queue for a dinner ticket. Instantly, in front of the entire hall, you were marked out as one of the poor kids.”
He now operates in a different world as a Labour MP and home owner. “I’m not ashamed to say I lead a very middle-class life now,” he says, but his background is never far from his mind. “It has shaped who I am.”
He is a gay Christian Cambridge graduate who is also tough on crime and patriotic.

“We’ve given the impression in recent years that we’re more comfortable with other people’s flags than our own and that’s a problem"
Streeting is a natural optimist, but he says his party must understand how dire things have become. “We must never underestimate how bad that 2019 defeat was and the level of change that is needed"
He is baffled by leftwingers who boast that they could “never be friends with a Tory”.

“You only win general elections when you’re the Labour Party by persuading people who previously voted Tory to vote Labour,” Streeting says. “Of course I’ve got Tory friends.”
He is relieved finally to have a leader who he actually wants to see in No 10. “I can knock on doors, look people in the eye and say, ‘This person is the best candidate for prime minister.’ ”
At the age of 38, Streeting is already being talked of as a possible future Labour leader, a centrist who supporters say could win back the party’s traditional working-class voters without alienating middle England
Does he think the country is ready for a gay prime minister? “I don’t think there are barriers to those things any more,” Streeting replies.

"I think people often underestimate the decency of the British people."

Read the full interview: thetimes.co.uk/article/labour…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with The Times

The Times Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @thetimes

18 Sep
Which degrees get you the highest pay?

New data suggests that choosing the right place to study can add up to £45,000 to graduate earnings — even between universities with similar reputations.

We've identified the courses with the best prospects

thetimes.co.uk/article/gradua…
According to figures compiled by @ukhesa, computer science graduates from Oxford attract median salaries of £65,000 just 15 months after graduating, more than those from any other course

Take the same subject at Bath Spa or Leeds Beckett, though, and you might start on £20,000
Even between similar highly-selective Russell Group universities, the difference can be tens of thousands of pounds

Dentistry graduates from Newcastle make £50,000, but those from Manchester get £38,364
Read 6 tweets
18 Sep
When the Monica Lewinsky scandal finally erupted, Bill Clinton’s presidency was very nearly destroyed, and the course of US politics was changed forever.

Former US correspondent @mfletchertimes, who witnessed the scandal first-hand, recalls what happened
thetimes.co.uk/article/monica…
The scandal contributed to Al Gore’s wafer-thin defeat by George W Bush in the presidential election of 2000, fuelled the bitter partisan warfare that has since crippled America, and almost certainly played a role in Hillary Clinton’s narrow defeat by Donald Trump in 2016.
By choosing to brazen out the scandal instead of resigning, Clinton also set an example that has since been followed by numerous other politicians – among them Trump, the former New York governor Andrew Cuomo and various British ministers.
Read 8 tweets
17 Sep
Last week Lindsey Buckingham announced that he was fired in 2018 from Fleetwood Mac because Stevie Nicks made an ultimatum: it was either him or her. They chose her.

@Willjhodgkinson spoke with the former lead guitarist and singer
thetimes.co.uk/article/lindse…
Where does this antipathy come from?

Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 masterpiece, Rumours, was dominated by songs about the pair’s romantic tussles. Nicks wrote Dreams about him, Buckingham wrote Go Your Own Way, Second Hand News and Never Going Back Again about her.
Since Rumours they have dealt with cocaine addiction, alcohol abuse, solo careers, Nicks going through rehab, Buckingham getting married, and countless worldwide tours.

If they could survive all of that, why should it fall apart in 2018?
Read 9 tweets
17 Sep
This year, for the first time ever, neither Cambridge nor Oxford have taken the top spot in The Sunday Times #GoodUniGuide

St Andrews is now ranked as the best university in the UK
thetimes.co.uk/article/uk-uni…
St Andrews has been homing in on the top of the rankings for several years, buoyed by outstanding levels of student satisfaction

It also achieves top-ten ratings for degree completion rates and admits the best-qualified students
The Times’ own choice for University of the Year 2021, however, is Imperial College London (@imperialcollege) – a triumph of both style and substance in the most difficult year imaginable
thetimes.co.uk/article/why-im…
Read 14 tweets
16 Sep
Boris Johnson is to announce the return of imperial weights and measures, making it legal for market stalls, shops and supermarkets to sell their goods using only Britain’s traditional weighing system post-Brexit thetimes.co.uk/article/scales…
With pounds and ounces are making a comeback, how ready are you to convert? ⚖️

Q1: How many ounces are in a pound?
Q2: How heavy is a 2.5kg bag of potatoes in ounces? 🥔
Read 10 tweets
16 Sep
Analysis 🔎: Is the West entering a Cold War with China?

Supplying Australia with nuclear submarines is a bold move that heralds a new era of tension, writes Asia editor @dicklp

thetimes.co.uk/article/is-the…
Tension and unease about the West’s future relationship with China has taken dramatically concrete form with the announcement of AUKUS, the “enhanced trilateral security partnership” between Australia, Britain and the USA
Australia, ranked 59th by size among the world’s military forces, is to be supplied with nuclear submarines by its two partners.

The dream of peaceful competition and co-existence — spirited, vigorous, but harmless rivalry — is melting away.
Read 7 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(