What does Wes Streeting really think about Palestine?

On a late-night central line conversation with Ilford North's MP.

London’s Central line is a humid and eccentric place. With my hometown located on its Hainault loop, I have witnessed the line in all its glory; washed-up British actors, bible-thumpers and brawls galore. You never know what - or who - you’re going to end up seeing in the random spin of the tube’s lottery. Perhaps, then, I should not have been surprised when I found myself seated next to Westminster’s finest last Thursday evening.

I was sceptical for a few stops, squinting my eyes and trying to match his face to a name. It was the couple staring from the carriage over that made me certain of the man’s identity. It was the Health Secretary who also happens to be my MP - Wes bloody Streeting. I hesitated starting a conversation, particularly given that I’d just written a piece about the political rival who almost unseated him at last year’s general election. Oops. See here for more on that. Ultimately, I thought f*ck it - maybe this is the universe throwing me a challenge.

Pictured: Keir Starmer and Wes Streeting on a train, April 2023. Photographed by Stefan Rousseau/PA.

I asked him if he was who I thought he was. He replied that he probably was. The man he was sat with - who I now know to be Joe Dancey, Streeting’s partner as well as an unsuccessful parliamentary candidate in Stockton West, and now Labour’s executive director of policy and communications - tossed me a sympathetic smirk. How do I approach this? As a journalist? A constituent? A socialist? I thought - just talk to him, Asha.

The political development of the day had been the controversial new law which gives 16 and 17 year olds the right to vote at the next election so I asked his thoughts on the issue. He approved - of course - yet in the same breath cited an “interesting” poll which found that half of 16 and 17 year olds themselves thought that they should not be allowed to vote. We agreed that improved, standardised political education in this country was a necessary accompaniment to the move. I wondered if this was on the government’s agenda.

We moved onto general pleasantries; our experiences of Cambridge University, the strange nature of student politics and newspapers; my career ambitions. He was sympathetic to my criticisms of university societies - that they were often clique-y and lacked meaningful diversity - but I can’t help but think we had very different experiences of the same institution. During his time there, he was President of the Cambridge University Students’ Union and active in student Labour clubs. During my time, I felt like I was always toeing the line, half-conscious of the historical anomaly that was my presence. Regardless, it was a place that we both regarded with affection.

I told him that I liked writing. In fact, it just so happened that I recently wrote a piece on an event hosted by activist Leanne Mohamad in our constituency of Ilford North - the same Mohamad who came within an incredibly marginal 528 votes of replacing Streeting as the area’s MP last year. The Telegraph had referred to the event as a targeted attempt on Streeting’s seat by the “hard-left”.

Raising this piece to Streeting was half-provocation, half-genuine curiosity about how he would respond.

He silently nodded his way throughout this part of the conversation in a flawless display of media training. I tried again - gesturing about how interesting the politics of our constituency is, the popularity of Mohamad’s event - but nothing. Just nod, nod, nod. Time to move on.

I felt it imperative to raise my concerns about the greatest moral and political catastrophe of our time - the genocide that Israel is currently committing against Palestinians. I also hated that there was such a big part of me that was afraid to talk about the very same thing. Reminding myself that there is nothing courageous about a person whose beliefs never translate into action, I proceeded.

I told him about my “love-hate” relationship with the Labour Party (and that’s putting it extremely generously) as a former member who left the party after Keir Starmer defended the ‘right’ of Israel to cut Palestinians off from water and electricity. I knew at that point that this was a party which no longer represented my views - nor those of most rational people in this country.

I asked him whether other constituents had raised similar concerns. He knew that Palestine was a contentious, even election-making issue for Ilford North - last year, he described Gaza as a “real issue” for the Labour party after several of its MPs lost to pro-Palestinian independents. On the train, Streeting responded sympathetically, replying that he hears not just “anger” but “sorrow” from constituents. He told me a story about a constituent who confessed that he did not vote for him at the last election because of the situation in Palestine, but later felt “conflicted” about the decision when he saw how marginal Streeting’s seat became. This anecdote seemed carefully selected; chosen to symbolise that he understood constituents’ concerns - yes - but also implying the naïveté of those who defected from himself and Labour because of Palestine.

Streeting made a point that many of these comments about Palestine came from constituents who didn’t know his “personal views” - but what are these personal views? And who do these views serve if they are not reflected in his politics?

One could be easily forgiven for feeling confused about Streeting’s position on the matter given his contradiction-ridden track record. Just last month, Streeting called the situation in Gaza a “horror show”, referring to the continuous killing of Palestinians seeking aid by Israeli forces, and called for the return of Israeli hostages, a ceasefire, and the recognition of Palestinian statehood. Great. He re-iterated his commitment to a ceasefire to me personally.

And yet, like the Prime Minister, Streeting has never once referred to the situation in Palestine as the genocide that it is. When a vote was held in favour of a ceasefire in Gaza in November 2023, Streeting was nowhere to be seen. More recently, he abstained from the motion which came to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist group - a move which organisations such as Amnesty International saw as an anti-democratic crackdown on free speech as well as a crass watering-down of what it means to be a ‘terrorist’. Declassified UK revealed a deeper history of Streeting’s ties to Israel; he reportedly received nearly £30,000 from Britain’s pro-Israel lobby whilst being a long-time supporter of Labour Friends of Israel.

After our conversation, it was hard for me to reconcile the Streeting that I’d met on the train with the Streeting I knew on paper. He was personable, soft-spoken, and easy to talk to. As much as I hate to say it, he was likeable. Equally, he has lacked integrity when it mattered most, for his constituents, for the people of both Palestine and Britain. Along with the rest of the government front bench, he has failed to use the language of genocide to describe what we can all see so clearly.

The conversation got me thinking about our relationship to politicians and the mechanisms by which we can hold them accountable. Streeting is the MP for myself and hundreds, if not thousands, of others in Ilford North who are deeply disgusted by the actions of the Israeli state and our government’s complicity in those actions. We see how money spent on weapons overseas funds austerity at home. Don’t these voices matter to the likes of Streeting? Or do they only matter when they are electorally beneficial and never again for the next four years?

As pleasant as my conversation with Streeting was - for the most part - I reject the sympathy of politicians who can only offer empty platitudes and unfulfilled promises. We deserve better. And we must organise to achieve that. By the time the next election rolls around, I am almost certain that Streeting and his fellow Labour lackeys will feel the weight of those unheard voices.