Like many LGBT+ people, I have spent my entire life hoping to see an openly gay Prime Minister enter 10 Downing Street. Now, that possibility is real—but it feels far from the celebratory moment once imagined. Wes Streeting, never shy about his ambition for the top job, has reportedly told Sir Keir Starmer he is ready to replace him after disastrous local election results for Labour.
It has become clear that, despite his relaunch speech, Starmer cannot lead Labour into the next election, and the party desperately needs a new direction. However, I do not believe Streeting is the man to take us there.
The Mandelson Shadow
For a start, if Peter Mandelson casts a shadow over Starmer, Streeting is not in the clear. Mandelson was a horrifying representative of the LGBTQ+ community, using his sexuality to claim ignorance of paedophile Jeffrey Epstein's activities. Streeting may have downplayed their relationship since Mandelson was sacked as UK ambassador to the US, but their chummy WhatsApp messages suggest otherwise.
Now, with Starmer on the brink, replacing him with someone tainted by the Mandelson scandal would be self-defeating for Labour. But for me, it goes deeper. Streeting represents the same betrayal lifelong Labour voters like me have felt under Starmer: a party more interested in appearing electable to the centre than putting working-class people first. I believe he is incapable of rebuilding Labour, and if he became Britain's first openly gay Prime Minister, it would be a cause for concern, not celebration, for many LGBT+ people.
A Betrayal of LGBTQ+ Values
Those of us who yearned for that moment hoped the highest office would be held by someone who understood our struggles and embodied the compassion, solidarity, and courage that define our community. A Prime Minister from our community should respect and defend every part of the LGBTQ+ community, not sacrifice the most vulnerable in pursuit of political ambition.
For me, Streeting has done more damage to the LGBT+ community as Health Secretary than some of our loudest political opponents. JK Rowling may have a platform, but Streeting has power. At the first opportunity, he threw the trans community under the bus—defending the indefinite ban on puberty blockers for trans children and describing their previous use as a 'scandal'. He has suggested excluding trans women from single-sex female hospital wards, furthering a narrative that parts of our community are a threat to others.
Streeting also quickly retreated from his earlier assertion that 'trans women are women'. Whatever your position on that emotive issue, it is deeply concerning that someone can U-turn so drastically in pursuit of electability. This reflects a defining problem with this Labour Party: welcoming LGBTQ+ leaders to march at Pride, only to turn their backs when convenient.
Why Zack Polanski Is the Better Choice
Green Party leader Zack Polanski may not be without his red flags, but his integrity and determination to fight for his community embody everything I once hoped to see in the first LGBTQ+ Prime Minister. One of the things I love most about the LGBT+ community is our solidarity: we survive by fighting for one another, especially when the world tells us we do not belong.
If I ever see an LGBT+ Prime Minister walk through the door of Downing Street, I want it to be someone who reflects that spirit—someone who understands that progress means lifting all of us, not abandoning the most vulnerable for political convenience. Wes Streeting has spent years proving he is not that person. He is not the Prime Minister our community has dreamed of, nor the one the country needs. He has repeatedly placed his own political ambition above the needs of the LGBTQ+ community at a time when many of us fear our hard-won rights are being eroded.
Many of us trusted Labour and voted for them in good conscience at the general election because they offered hope—hope that they would treat queer people with respect and dignity. Streeting was one of the first to break that trust, and the damage feels irreparable. Should he replace Starmer, I fear I will look at Britain's first openly LGBTQ+ Prime Minister with the same disappointment I have felt for every Prime Minister since Gordon Brown. It will not be a landmark moment; it will feel like the end of the hope that a Prime Minister might embody our community, not betray it. At least, until Zack Polanski walks through the door of Number 10.
