Health Secretary was left visibly astounded after presenter Paddy O’Connell took a brutal jab at him on Thursday. The politician joined to discuss the government’s decision to scrap NHS England, but the line of questioning resulted in an on-air clash.
Paddy stated: “ must be pleased to see him saying that you’re moving in the right direction, but he says if you replace control of one organisation with control by Wes Streeting, that’s not improvement.” The presenter abruptly asked: “So are you trying to be the fat controller?” This left Streeting visibly taken aback as he slammed: “Alright, I’ve put on a few pounds in the last months, but that’s a bit harsh.”
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Wes Streeting was left shocked by the jibe (Image: BBC)
Paddy defended his question and clarified: “No, it’s a famous literary illusion. Are you being a power-grabbing Streeting? You’re replacing Amanda Pritchard with Wes Streeting; that’s not progress.”
However, the politician couldn’t get over the brutal jibe as he laughed: “Fat and power-grabbing, I’m never coming on Newsnight again.”
As Paddy laughed, Streeting continued: “There’s a serious point here which is actually I want to do the opposite. I want to give more power, more freedom to the front line leaders.”
This prompted the presenter to ask: “Well, how can I measure that? You may want to, but we haven’t got the details.”
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Dead. To. Me. ?????? ??????
— Wes Streeting (@wesstreeting)
Streeting responded: “Crucially through the results, like are waiting times coming down, are services improving?
“The team I’m building isn’t just about the one organisation nationally, it’s also the team I’m building with NHS leaders locally.
“What they tell me is that they can deliver better outcomes and better value for taxpayers, but some of the regulatory burdens … is causing waste, inefficiency and poorer standards, so I’m cutting through that red tape and bureaucracy through deregulation.”
As the clip from Newsnight was shared on the programme’s official X page, the politician reshared it with a jab of his own at Paddy.
Streeting simply wrote: “Dead. To. Me,” with a laughing and a top hat emoji in a nod to the Fat Controller from children’s TV series, Thomas and Friends.