One Boy, Two Bills and a Fry Up: A Memoir of Growing Up and Getting On

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This honest, uplifting, affectionate memoir is a tribute to the love and support which set him on his way out of poverty, and informs everything about Wes Streeting’s mission now in politics. He will be in conversation with Professor Pam Cox. Lakeside Theatre, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, CO4 3SQ A moving and inspiring hymn to the ups and downs of life - to love, to adversity and above all courage.' ---Michael Cashman

Almost two-thirds of this book is committed to Streeting’s early years in a loving if chaotic family. By comparing the titular Bills, not pieces of legislation but Wes’s two grandfathers – one a law-abiding Conservative voter, and one a jailbird – we’re given a window into two approaches often found in working-class families in the 1980s. Perhaps some of Streeting’s contemporary Labour centrism comes from this tension: being constantly pulled between the half of the family who wanted to escape to suburban home ownership, and the other half of his Stepney roots who were dedicated to maintaining a community in the inner city. This honest, uplifting, affectionate memoir is a tribute to the love and support which set him on his way out of poverty, and informs everything about Wes Streeting’s mission now in politics. A] compelling story of overcoming adversity… Unexpectedly fascinating… amazingly inspiriting…’— The ObserverAnd yet, there’s something missing here, which is where the fascination comes in. How did he make it, you wonder, absorbing the more chaotic details. What calmness and determination he had; what self-containment and aspiration. But if the reader cannot quite account for these things – where did they come from? – nor does Streeting, who writes as if he’s a stranger to himself. Either the inward is simply not available to him – some people, a touch robotic, are like this – or (more likely) there are feelings he still finds so painful, he can only push them away. The third possibility – that he’s some kind of saint – seems unlikely given his attraction to the knot of vipers that is party politics. At Cambridge, unlike many of his fellow students, he has to work at Comet in the holidays From 1st July 2021, VAT will be applicable to those EU countries where VAT is applied to books - this additional charge will be collected by Fed Ex (or the Royal Mail) at the time of delivery. Shipments to the USA & Canada:

Brought up on a Stepney council estate, the young Streeting saw his teenage parents struggle to provide for him. In One Boy, Two Bills and A Fry Up he brings to life the poverty, humiliation and incredible struggle for them choosing whether to feed the meter and heat the flat, put carpet on the floor, or food on the table. The young Streeting at home in Clichy House, Stepney, London, 1986. Photograph: Courtesy of Wes Streeting A moving and inspiring hymn to the ups and downs of life - to love, to adversity and above all courage.'A moving and inspiring hymn to the ups and downs of life – to love, to adversity and above all courage.’ —Michael Cashman His maternal grandfather Bill, an unsuccessful armed robber, spent time behind bars, as did his grandmother, who was also a political campaigner. Brought up on a Stepney council estate, the young Streeting saw his teenage parents struggle to provide for him. Wes Streeting might have ended up in prison rather than in parliament. His maternal grandfather Bill, an unsuccessful armed robber, spent time behind bars, as did his grandmother, who was also a political campaigner.