Health Secretary Wes Streeting accused of ‘open leadership manoeuvres’ after unleashing attack on Reform UK leader Nigel Farage

Wes Streeting was accused of ‘open leadership manoeuvres’ last night after unleashing one of Labour’s strongest attack so far on Nigel Farage.

The Health Secretary faced claims that he was positioning himself as the man to succeed Sir Keir Starmer after telling colleagues how to take on the menace of ‘the populist right’.

He told Labour colleagues that the antidote to Mr Farage’s ‘miserabilist declinist vision’ for Britain’s future was to carry through real reform to the NHS.

Mr Streeting’s rousing call to arms was coupled with a pledge to save £650 million in one year alone by cutting NHS spending on ‘rip-off staffing agencies’.

However, last night, he was accused by friends and foes alike of pitching himself as the man with the charisma and vision to replace the Prime Minister.

Mr Farage told the Mail on Sunday: ‘He clearly sees himself as the next leader.

‘But it’s the Labour government who are the miserabilists – we’re the happy, optimistic ones.’

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