Streeting says raising concerns over Gaza in government like ‘hitting up against a brick wall’ | Wes Streeting
Wes Streeting said he felt he had “hit a brick wall” trying to raise concerns about Gaza in government following the revelation of private messages in which Peter Mandelson was accused of being “hysterical” over the issue.
Among the scores of documents released regarding Mandelson’s appointment as US ambassador, WhatsApp messages showed Mandelson being highly critical of Streeting to another cabinet minister, Pat McFadden.
In the messages, Mandelson referred to Streeting’s lobbying efforts before the government to take action on Gaza in July 2025, when he was health minister. Mandelson said he “received a crazy, long, hysterical message from Wes about Israel. I pushed back. I could go further, but it reflects his maturity pretty poorly, in my opinion.”
McFadden said that a few days later, Streeting distributed videos about Gaza and a memo to the cabinet, which turned out to be a dossier prepared by three doctors, including two surgeons from leading London hospitals, and that all of these doctors described their experiences of working in Gaza under Israeli bombardment.
Mandelson described Streeting’s intervention as “pathetic” and added: “I think Wes is having an early midlife crisis.”
In a statement to the Guardian, Streeting said he was “horrified by the war in Gaza”. He added: “As a government, I did everything I could behind the scenes to ensure that the government acted with the moral urgency that the conflict required. This included sharing eyewitness accounts from doctors on the ground in Gaza, whose accounts needed to be heard at the highest levels of government to ensure that what was happening in Gaza was not a war without witnesses.”
“I was by no means the only cabinet minister to press for action, but we often felt like we were hitting a brick wall. Our concerns and aspirations were ignored.
“I have always supported Israel’s right to defend itself and the right of Palestinians to establish their own state. I met the survivors of October 7 and was the first shadow cabinet minister to visit Israel. Ten years ago I visited the West Bank, calling for sanctions on Israeli settlements while in the background; this was not an emotional or one-sided reaction; I and other ministers believe in this.
“I was proud to be part of the government that finally recognized the state of Palestine, but it took us so long to get there.”
Streeting’s 22-page dossier, seen by the Guardian, shown to other ministers, contained numerous graphic images of acute malnutrition and children, including babies with amputated limbs.
In the report, one doctor described operating on up to a dozen children a day, with many screaming in pain because there was no analgesic available. Officials said that half of the casualties were children and that they had never seen such great trauma in young children in the years they worked in war zones.
Other messages between Mandelson and McFadden showed Mandelson describing Keir Starmer’s Downing Street as “beleaguered and deprived” and on another occasion saying the prime minister “lacks enthusiasm, as does the cabinet as a whole”.
In a message to Mandelson, McFadden said of Labor MPs his role in the then Cabinet Office: “Every meeting I have is: ‘Who can we tax to benefit others?’ They’re asking the wrong questions.”
Speaking to the media on Tuesday morning, Cabinet Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said the messages were “disgraceful” but were public because of the government’s commitment to comply with the modest address motion MPs passed in February to publish all information about Mandelson’s appointment.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “[McFadden’s] “The view has always been on giving people opportunities, not on the benefits side, and you saw that last week.” He cites former health secretary Alan Milburn’s report on tackling youth unemployment.
When asked about the culture in the parliamentary party of demanding more spending on benefits, Thomas-Symonds said “that’s not my experience, obviously Pat is talking about meetings he’s been to there. That’s not my experience.”
