It’s a real honour to be appointed Health Secretary by Andy Burnham - 27 years after I worked on the first NHS Cancer Plan as a junior health minister.
I’m looking forward to working urgently to improve maternity services, to take forward plans for social care, and to once again play a part in supporting our National Health Service, Labour’s proudest achievement.
Most of all I’m looking forward to working with the dedicated NHS staff, carers, healthcare professionals and volunteers on whom we all depend.
In leaving the FCDO, let me pay tribute to the brilliant diplomats and ministers I worked with at the Foreign Office, and to my fellow foreign ministers from across the world - for all the work we did together to support Ukraine, to recognise the State of Palestine, to keep the spotlight on Sudan and to treat violence against women and girls as the global crisis it is. The partnerships we build abroad make us stronger at home.