Wes Streeting, arrives at Downing Street for a weekly cabinet Meeting in London, United Kingdom, on May 12, 2026.Health Secretary Wes Streeting resigned from the government on Thursday, stating he has “lost confidence” in Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s leadership. “It is now clear that you will not lead the Labour Party into the next general election,” Streeting told Starmer in his resignation letter, advocating for “the best possible field of candidates” to be considered moving forward.Streeting is tipped as a top contender to replace Starmer and is reportedly planning to launch a leadership contest against the Prime Minister. His office has not yet responded to TIME's request for comment.He stands to face strong competition from Mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham, who is attempting to return to the House of Commons via a by-election. Richard Johnson, a senior lecturer in politics at Queen Mary University, tells TIME that although Streeting is “very politically ambitious,” there are some “big structural barriers” that could get in his way.“The biggest being that the Labour membership is more to the left than where Starmer or Streeting are, and to win the leadership, you've got to win over the membership,” he says.Starmer has so far resisted calls to resign, despite at least 80 Labour MPs [Members of Parliament] calling for him to step down or establish a timeline for his departure.However, the resignation of Streeting, which follows in the wake of four other government ministers stepping down in protest on Tuesday, has undoubtedly ramped up the pressure on Starmer. The incumbent leader has faced strong criticism after Labour suffered heavy losses in last week’s local elections. Several lawmakers had already called for Starmer to resign last month, over his handling of the controversial appointment o f Peter Mandelson. With Starmer’s premiership at a crisis point, and with Streeting emerging as a possible contender that could replace him, here’s what you need to know about the former Health Secretary. Streeting credits his working class background in shaping his political outlook“I'm not your typical politician. I come from a working class family in Tower Hamlets [London],” says Streeting on his website. “I funded myself through college and university with retail jobs and I spent my professional career working outside politics in the voluntary sector.”“Alongside a loving family and a welfare system that put food in the fridge and money in the electric meter, it was the education I was lucky enough to receive that helped me beat the odds and now serve as our country’s Health and Social Care Secretary in the most working-class government in history,” said Streeting in April, crediting his time studying history at Selwyn College, Cambridge.“But I am one of a few exceptions. It’s not enough that a few can beat the odds. The purpose of this government is to change the odds for everyone… We’re determined to break the class ceiling in the NHS so that our professions are elite, not elitist,” he added. Streeting has spoken publicly about key figures from his upbringing, including his two grandfathers, both called Bill. His maternal grandfather served time in prison for armed robbery, as detailed in Streeting’s 2023 memoir, One Boy, Two Bills and a Fry Up.Having attended Cambridge after Streeting, Johnson tells TIME that the former Health Secretary's “name loomed large” as “someone who everyone expected to become an MP and possibly one day Prime Minister.”Johnson describes Streeting as “a much more experienced political operator than Starmer,” who has a legal background.David Jeffery, a political analyst with expertise in British politics, also emphasizes that Streeting has “long harbored ambitions to be the Prime Minister,” referencing a 2018 comedy show during which Streeting, when asked who would be Prime Minister in ten years, answered himself.After coming out as gay during his university years, Streeting became an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and served as the Head of Education for U.K.-based LGBT+ rights charity Stonewall before being elected as an MP in 2015.He has continued to be vocal in supporting the government in tackling homophobia since becoming Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in 2024.More recently, Streeting faced criticism when 10 LGBTQ+ youth organizations publicly shared a letter urging him to change course on how the NHS approaches gender-affirming health care for young people.Streeting’s wins and shortcomings as Health SecretaryShortly before Streeting announced his resignation, he celebrated the National Health Service (NHS) reaching its interim target goal for 65% of patients to be treated within 18 weeks by March 2026.“Our plan for the NHS is working. This is the biggest cut in waiting lists in a single month in 17 years. It means we are right on track to deliver the fastest reduction in waiting times in the history of the NHS,” said Streeting. “That is thanks to the government’s investment, modernization, and the remarkable efforts of staff right across the country. Lots done, lots more to do.”The figures are likely to strengthen Streeting’s position should he launch a leadership bid, with healthcare remaining a central issue both within the Labour Party and among the wider British public.“I think many within Labour will point to successes under Streeting with how the NHS services run,” says Jeffery. “But the core issue that Streeting has had is in dealing with the junior doctors, or now resident doctors.”Streeting has struggled to contain unrest among NHS resident doctors, leading the British Medical Association to launch strike action.This clash “has put him in direct confrontation with some of the doctors’ unions” which is “not a good pitch to make if you are running to be Labour leader,” adds Jeffery.Streeting has criticized U.S. President Donald TrumpStarmer’s relationship with Trump has splintered amid the fallout of the Iran war, so if someone were to replace him as leader of the U.K., there would be high interest in how they might rebuild relations between Westminster and Washington.Streeting has publicly criticized Trump on a number of occasions. “He's had a fair number of times, particularly as an opposition politician, where he used condemnatory language about Trump, and in government he's had to be more judicious,” notes Johnson.In 2017, during Trump's first term in the White House, he said: "Trump is such an odious, sad, little man. Imagine being proud to have that as your President."When the President traveled to the U.K. for a state visit in 2019, Streeting supported London Mayor Sadiq Khan and others in arguing that Trump should not have been welcomed by the Conservative government.“The far-right is on the rise around the world, threatening our hard-won rights, freedoms, and values,” he said, insisting that Khan was “standing up for Londoners and the country by saying that we shouldn’t be rolling out the red carpet for President Trump. He is not a friend.”Last year, when asked about his previous remarks, Streeting said his responsibility is "delivering Britain's national interest" and emphasized the "relationship between the President and the Prime Minister, at any given time, really matters" whatever the "political differences" at play.More recently, Streeting aimed criticism at the President within his capacity as the Health Secretary.In September, after Trump said that using Tylenol during pregnancy increases the risk of having a baby with autism, contradicting advice from leading obstetrics experts who say the popular drug is very safe in pregnancy, Streeting issued a strong rebuke.“There is no evidence to link the use of paracetamol by pregnant women to autism in their children. None,” said Streeting during an appearance on a U.K. TV show. “Don't pay any attention whatsoever to what Donald Trump says about medicine, don't even take my word for it as a politician. Listen to British doctors, British scientists, the NHS.”Streeting has also been critical of comments Trump has made in relation to the Iran war—which Starmer has refused to get the U.K. actively involved in.Prior to the current cease-fire between the U.S. and Iran, Trump had threatened that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if Iranian officials missed his deadline to make a deal to end the war.A few days later, Streeting admitted that relations with the Trump Administration were “strained” due to the difference of agreement over Iran. Addressing Trump’s rhetoric, he said: “Over the course of the last week, President Trump has said some pretty bold, incendiary, provocative, outrageous things on social media.”“I think we've all come to learn that you judge President Trump through what he does, not just what he says,” Streeting added. “And ultimately, the only way in which we're going to clear this situation up is to reach agreement with Iran—one that puts nuclear weapons beyond its ambitions and reach”