Some news can silence the usual din from party politics and unite society as one. The revelation that Sir Chris Hoy’s cancer is terminal was one such development.

Among the messages of support sent to the Scot was one from Wes Streeting, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and this week’s minister for the Sunday politics shows.

Streeting knows more than most what it feels like to be on the end of a cancer diagnosis. He was treated for kidney cancer in 2021 and subsequently ruled “fighting fit”.

Hoy has been told he has two to four years to live.

On Sky News’ Sunday with Trevor Phillips, the minister said the six-time Olympic cycling champion’s positive attitude was “inspirational”, adding: “I’m just in awe, actually, of how he is dealing with that, because I’m not sure how I would react in the same situation.”

Appearing on BBC1’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg later, Streeting said the Olympic champion had done the country and people with a terminal diagnosis “an enormous service” by being so open about what he was facing.

Streeting was touring the studios ahead of the Budget on October 30, the latest in an increasingly long line of ministers having their say about Rachel Reeves’ settlement while insisting they can say nothing. Some have written to the Prime Minister and let their concerns about possible tax rises and spending cuts be known through third parties. As Streeting put it, Keir Starmer has had more letters than Santa (bit early with the seasonal gags there, minister).

The MP for Ilford North has no need of such behind-the-scenes manoeuvres. It is not his style, and anyway, he has been part of the planning process for the Budget from the early days. Indeed, he is integral to its success.

Labour knows it has a hard sell on its hands with this Budget, already being billed as one of the toughest in living memory. It has tried to lay the groundwork by blaming the Conservatives for a “black hole” in the public finances that started at £22 billion and is now £40 billion and still growing, but it is not enough. Voter disquiet is turning to anger, with the situation made worse by the government means testing winter fuel payments and the row over freebies.

With so much pain predicted, not least by gloom-spreading Sir Keir, the government has to show there is something concrete to be gained from this Budget, which is where Streeting comes in. He will be the “good cop” to Reeves’ bad cop, using a large slice of the money she raises to cut waiting lists and aid health and wellbeing in general. And lo the jobless will go back to work, the economy will start growing, and everything will turn out fine in time for the next general election. Simple, really.

Except of course, Streeting knows it isn’t. As a politician often spoken of as the heir to Blair, the health secretary knows that the last Labour government spent billions more to “save the NHS”. While waiting lists and times went down it took a long time to turn the tanker around, and the public sector reforms that were supposed to be the quid pro quo did not materialise.

Streeting now finds himself in the same position: offering money, demanding reform. If anything, he is in a worse situation than Blair and Brown. They had a reasonably buoyant economy to keep the money coming in. How will Streeting fare?

Though health is a devolved matter, Scotland is no bystander here, waiting to see how Streeting’s ideas play out across England. He is already on record as saying that when it comes to health “all roads lead back to Westminster”.

In an interview before the general election, he told Kuenssberg: “I’m convinced that a Labour government in Westminster won’t just deliver for the NHS in England. We’ll create a rising tide that lifts all ships across the UK.”

He added that Jackie Baillie, Labour’s deputy leader and health spokesperson in Scotland “already has a plan to take the money that she would get from our policy of cutting waiting lists in England to do exactly the same in Scotland”.

With Holyrood elections coming in 2026, Scottish Labour has a lot riding on the speedy success of Streeting’s plans. On Monday he will launch, with the Prime Minister, a “national conversation” on health and outline the government’s 10-year plan to turn the NHS around. That suggests his plans will only just be up and running by 2026. It will take time for results to show; not great news for Scottish Labour going into an election.

Overall, Streeting’s success depends, in turn, on how much capacity there is in the NHS and, crucially, the private sector, to start cutting waiting lists. He talks of “crack teams” being sent into areas where the need is greatest, but are there the staff willing to put in the necessary hours at the weekends? How will the unions, for now satisfied with their pay settlements, react to so much work going to the private sector?

Streeting appears to have won the battle for more money, but he has a long fight ahead if he is to turn the NHS around. That will be the same NHS he has described as “broken” and in “a truly awful state”.

Meanwhile, as Streeting shovels the money in the bills keep coming and the waiting lists grow. On Trevor Phillips' show there was a running totaliser showing how much the NHS in England had spent since the host’s interview with Streeting began. In what seemed like seconds it had shot through the £4 million mark.

It matters to millions of people, many of them waiting in pain, unable to work or enjoy a good quality of life, that Streeting succeeds. Compared to his colleagues, notably the Prime Minister and Chancellor, he has had a decent 100 days. As one of the government’s most impressive communicators - and let’s face it there are not many of them - he stands a better chance than most of keeping all sides on side. I wish him luck.