Cabinet Minister Slaps Down Wes Streeting Over Claim There Is 'Growing Despair' In UK

<div><img src="https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/69071f28230000381abe210c.jpeg?cache=wPiGhmPlk5&ops=scalefit_630_noupscale" alt="John Healey and Wes Streeting" data-caption="John Healey and Wes Streeting" data-credit-link-back="" data-credit="Sky News/AP" />John Healey and Wes Streeting</div><div class="content-list-component text"><p>The defence secretary boldly rejected his colleague <a href="news/wes-streeting" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Wes Streeting’s</a> claim that there “is a deep disillusionment in this country at the moment”.</p><p>The health secretary <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/wes-streeting-piles-more-pressure-on-keir-starmer-in-wake-of-labours-by-election-humiliation_uk_68fdc665e4b0ebfddfba1641">caused a stir</a> when he told <a href="news/sky-news" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sky News’ </a>Sunday Morning With <a href="news/trevor-phillips" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Trevor Phillips </a>last week: “There is a deep disillusionment in this country at the moment and, I’d say, growing sense of despair about whether anyone is capable of turning this country around.”</p><p>Streeting said while he is an optimist, “there is also so much more to do”.</p><p>His remarks came after <a href="news/labour" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Labour’s</a> humiliating by-election defeat in Caerphilly, which the senior minister compared to the lowest point of Starmer’s time as a party leader.</p><p>He compared the terrible result in Labour’s former stronghold to a similar seismic loss in Hartlepool in 2021, when Starmer considered resigning as Labour leader. </p><p