Wes Streeting has suffered an “unbelievable volume” of homophobic abuse since becoming defence secretary, he has revealed.

He said it was clear that many people online “cannot cope with the idea” of a gay man in the role.

Streeting was brought back into the cabinet by Andy Burnham after resigning as health secretary under Keir Starmer.

Speaking at the Edinburgh Fringe festival, he said his sexuality had been “almost entirely unremarked upon in the media” when he was put in charge of the Ministry of Defence.

But he said that “online it matters to a lot of people”.

Streeting said said the role was an opportunity for him to “challenge this sort of stereotype that clearly persists in dark corners of the internet”.

Despite the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1967, it remained a criminal offence for military personnel until 1994.

Even after that date, homosexuality remained classed as “conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline” until 2000, meaning service personnel could still be dismissed for being gay.

Streeting added: “I am proud of the fact that in my lifetime we’ve gone from gay people not being allowed to serve in the military to a gay defence secretary.

“And in my first week, someone in the MoD said to me, you know, as a gay man, I’m really proud that we have our first gay defence secretary, and it means a lot to many of us who remember the bad old days.”

Streeting also said Andy Burnham “probably” would not have become prime minister if he had not resigned as health secretary.

“What I think my resignation did that week was force choices for others,” he said.

Streeting also revealed that he had ditched his plan to challenge for the Labour leadership after talks with Burnham during the Makerfield by-election campaign.

He said: “I sort of went in with the aim of saying I think we can show a different way of doing politics in terms of how we debate the future of the Labour Party and how we conduct ourselves in a contest.

“And we sat around over a cup of tea, talking about what had gone wrong. And inevitably, when you talk about what’s gone wrong, you give hints to each other about what you think you need to do to make it right.

“And the more we were talking, the more I was thinking, how much do I fundamentally disagree with this guy on anything?”

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Thanks to House Of The Dragon and House Of Guinness, James Norton is becoming an international hot property.

However, the Bafta nominee has already been a regular on British screens for nearly 15 years, since rising to fame as the lovable vicar Sidney Chambers in the ITV detective drama Grantchester and the villainous Tommy Lee Royce in Happy Valley.

Since his on-screen debut in the 2010s, James has gone on to appear in a wide array of projects on both the big and small screens – though, admittedly, not all of them have stood the test of time.

As his star continues to rise, here are 13 James Norton roles you may have forgotten about…

One of James’ earliest notable appearances came when he was cast as Mr Henry Alveston in Death Comes To Pemberley.

The BBC murder mystery drama was an adaptation of the P. D. James novel of the same name, starring Matthew Rhys, Anna Maxwell Martin and Jenna Coleman as characters in the same universe as Jane Austen’s Pride And Prejudice.

Taking place six years after Mr Darcy’s wedding to Elizabeth Bennet, the show followed the investigation into the murder of Captain Martin Denny on the grounds of Pemberley house.

James’ character, Dr Henry, was a lawyer and legal reformer who was involved in the court case, and also served as a love interest to Georgiana, Mr Darcy’s sister.

James played Sir Clifford Chatterley in one of the many adaptations of DH Lawrence’s scandalous 1928 novel.

This TV movie version starred Holliday Grainger as Lady Chatterley and Richard Madden as Oliver Mellors.

In Lady Chatterley’s Lover, James played the war veteran husband of the titular character, who is paralysed from the waist down after returning from World War I.

Written and directed by Line Of Duty creator Jed Mercurio, the BBC adaptation also featured Jodie Comer and Edward Holcroft.

The BBC miniseries War & Peace is now renowned for its star-studded cast, many of whom went on to become huge names in Hollywood – James included.

The Leo Tolstoy adaptation starred future household names including Jessie Buckley, Lily James, Jack Lowden and Callum Turner, alongside more established actors Paul Dano, Brian Cox and Stephen Rea.

War & Peace followed five aristocratic Russian families as they navigated society, love and the French invasion of Russia under Napoleon between 1805 and 1820.

In the six-part drama, James played the nihilistic Andrei Bolkonsky, the son of the strict retired general Prince Nikolai Bolkonsky and the brother of Princess Marya.

Andrei spends much of the show frustrated with the superficiality of his high society life, trying to find a higher purpose.

That same year, James also appeared in the first instalment of Black Mirror’s third season (and its first as a big-budget Netflix original), entitled Nosedive.

Bryce Dallas Howard took the lead in the episode, which took place in a not-too-distant dystopian future, where people rated each other after each interaction via a smartphone app.

James played Ryan, the laid-back, videogame-obsessed brother of Bryce’s Lacie. Unlike his sister, Ryan was nonplussed about society’s opinions of him, rejecting the superficiality and spending most of the episode hiding behind a VR set, while Lacie desperately sought the affirmation of those around her.

The episode is still one of Black Mirror’s highest rated and best remembered offerings ever, with The AV Club commending the episode for painting “a darker picture, of a world in which the instant gratification of online approval has spread outward”.

You’d be forgiven for forgetting they ever remade Flatliners, let alone that it featured James Norton.

Meanwhile, the 2017 reboot starred Elliot Page, Diego Luna, Nina Dobrev and Kiersey Clemons alongside James as medical students who try to conduct experiments that create near-death experiences.

The remake, which also acted as a sequel, was slammed by critics and now holds a measly 4% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Around the release of the ill-fated Flatliners, James also played a supporting role in Hampstead, alongside Brendan Gleeson and the late Diane Keaton.

The romantic comedy-drama was based on the real-life story of Harry Hallowes, who lived on a camp on Hampstead Heath, and successfully battled property developers, successfully claiming adverse possession when they tried to evict him.

Brendan played Donald, who served as a fictionalised version of the late Hallowes, with Diane starring as an American widow whom he befriends after she tries to help him.

James appeared as her well-meaning son, who was worried about the financial and personal burden Donald was putting on his mother.

Although made in 2017, the film’s release was delayed until 2019, reportedly due the allegations made against Harvey Weinstein, who had acquired the US distribution rights to the film around that time.

The movie was met with mixed reviews with Variety calling the unlikely rom-com “gentle, attractively appointed and phonier-than-thou Britcom in the Richard Curtis mould”.

BBC audiences were absolutely hooked on the crime drama McMafia when it premiered in 2018.

In the gripping series, James played Alex Godman, a young financier who became embroiled in a life of crime, rubbing shoulders with the Russian mafia and the Mexican cartel.

Inspired by a non-fiction book by journalist Misha Glenny, the series also starred David Strathairn and Juliet Rylance.

“This isn’t just a story of the sexy side of the mafia which people are attracted to, but also the cost of that lavish lifestyle, how it’s paid and who pays for it,” James teased to iNews in 2017.

Another big-budget BBC drama James Norton appeared in was The Trial Of Christine Keeler. Airing at the end of 2019 and start of 2020, the miniseries followed the real-life events of the 1963 Profumo Affair.

Sophie Skelton played Christine Keeler, the model who became involved in a national scandal when she had an affair with two married men. The 21-year-old was entangled with both a Soviet Union attache and the UK Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, during the Cold War,

James played Stephen Ward, a well-connected osteopath and artist who was dragged into the scandal when he introduced Profumo to the then 19-year-old Christine Keeler. He was also friends with the Soviet attaché and was later involved in the cover-up.

At the time, James’ most high-profile job to date came when he appeared in 2019’s Little Women, directed by Greta Gerwig.

The British star appeared alongside an illustrious cast including Saoirse Ronan, Timothée Chalamet and Florence Pugh, playing the hardworking tutor John Brooke.

In the film, his character married Emma Watson’s Meg March, with whom he has two children.

“I was very aware of the calibre of people on that set. I spent most of my time standing in the corner just trying to soak as much of it as I possibly could,” he told Variety at the Cannes Film Festival, calling working with the star-studded cast a “total privilege”.

One of James’ most critically-acclaimed projects is the 2020 indie film Nowhere Special, in which he played a single father with a terminal illness.

James starred as John, a man who must make arrangements for his four-year-old son after learning he has terminal cancer, while also shielding the young boy from his inevitable death.

In 2021, the actor was nominated for a British Independent Film Award for Best Actor for his performance in the drama. Nowhere Special holds a rare 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes, with The Guardian praising James’ “spine-tingling, intimate performance”, and the BFI calling him “grounded and genuine” in the role.

Set in Victorian London, the series followed a group of people who acquired abnormal abilities after a mysterious supernatural event.

In the steampunk series, James played Hugo Swann, an aristocratic pansexual man who owns a private club and is known for extorting customers.

In 2021, James called his character an “absolute joy to play”, telling Radio Times: “I love being able to let rip, and tap into that dark, wonderful, bawdy side of humanity. We’re all desperate to be Hugo Swann, but we’re all too repressed to actually give it a go.”

Kingsley Ben-Adir won acclaim and critical nods for his leading performance role as Bob Marley in the 2022 biopic, One Love.

The biopic followed the reggae legend’s career from his mid 70s success through to his untimely death in 1981.

In the film, James played the record producer and founder of Island Records, Chris Blackwell, who represented artists like Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff and Peter Tosh, and is credited with helping bring reggae music to the wider world.

James researched the mogul extensively and consulted with art director Neville Garrick to capture the producer’s personal dynamic with the late reggae singer.

He told Screen Rant about the importance of Neville and Bob’s son Ziggy Marley’s involvement with the project.

“Having those guys there, both in terms of just the references and the historical advice was brilliant, but it was a bigger, more profound presence,” he enthused.

Just last year, James both starred in and executive produced the four-part ITV drama Playing Nice, kicking off a run of prolific projects that included King & Conqueror for the BBC and House Of Guinness for Netflix.

In the show, James and Niamh Algar played a husband and wife, who discovered that their child had been swapped with another couple’s in the same hospital when they were newborns babies.

The series followed the couple as they tried to “play nice” and co-parent their biological child, while still raising the toddler they believed to be their own.

However, tensions quickly rose when legal threats were made by the other set of parents.

The show was one of ITV1’s highest-rated new dramas of 2025, breaking ITVX records with its viewing figures.

Digital Spy hailed Playing Nice as “the kind of show that will plague your mind in an infuriating, all-consuming, perfectly addictive way, although it did face some criticism due its storyline.

James hit back at the critics at the time, insisting: “Family, either your parents or your children, they are the thing which you have that 4am anxiety about,” he said.

“So this… I mean, look, I don’t want to push back [but] the people who are finding it too much – it’s drama!”

House Of The Dragon’s third season concludes on Monday on HBO Max, Sky and Now in the UK.

You send your partner a text. Hours pass without a reply.

Logically, you know they’re probably busy. But emotionally, your brain starts spinning. Are they upset with you? Did you do something wrong? Do they still love you?

Most people have moments like this from time to time. But for many people with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), those feelings can be much more intense, and may be tied to something often referred to as emotional permanence.

Emotional permanence is a non-clinical term used to describe the ability to hold on to the feeling that someone loves, values or cares about you even when they aren’t physically present or regularly communicating with you.

“Emotional permanence is not an officially recognised diagnostic symptom of ADHD, although many individuals with ADHD report experiencing symptoms that closely resemble it,” said therapist Stephanie Lewis.

“Many report a lack of ability to maintain the emotional reality of a relationship as long as the individual involved is not physically present or actively engaged in communication with them. The phenomenon is much more than simply forgetting another person exists; rather it involves loss of access to the feeling of being loved, valued and/or connected to another person during short periods of time.”

A delayed text, a missed call or a quiet day from a partner or friend can suddenly feel like evidence that the relationship has changed and can cause not only anxiety for the person with ADHD, but also possible friction within a relationship.

People who struggle with emotional permanence don’t necessarily doubt their relationships all the time. Rather, they may suddenly feel as though an emotional connection has disappeared simply because it hasn’t been recently reinforced.

For example, someone with ADHD may intellectually know their partner loves them, but after a day without hearing from them, begin wondering whether something is wrong.

“In my work with individuals with ADHD I have met patients who intellectually understand their partner’s love for them,” Lewis said. “Yet, upon going one full day without receiving a text message from their partner, they begin to wonder whether something is wrong and/or if they have caused their partner to become upset with them.”

That uncertainty can quickly snowball.

“This emotional uncertainty will often result in anxiety, increased reassurance-seeking behavior or increased conflict within the relationship,” Lewis said.

The same pattern can show up outside romantic relationships. A delayed response from a friend can feel like rejection. A lack of feedback from a manager can feel like criticism. Even when nothing has objectively changed, the emotional certainty that someone cares can suddenly feel precarious.

Although emotional permanence is not part of the diagnostic criteria for ADHD, experts say several characteristics commonly associated with ADHD may help explain why many people with ADHD identify with this experience.

Lewis points to working memory challenges, difficulties with emotional regulation and rejection-sensitive dysphoria – an intense emotional response to perceived criticism or rejection that many, though not all, people with ADHD experience.

“A number of variables may also contribute to the existence of emotional permanence,” Lewis said. “For example, working memory deficits may limit the ability to retain emotional information, whereas difficulties with emotional regulation and rejection-sensitive dysphoria may increase the fear of rejection or disconnection.”

Clinical psychologist Navvab Tadjvar said these challenges can make the absence of emotional reassurance feel much more significant.

“Because the ADHD brain is so intensely bound to the immediate present, when the feedback stops, the internal anchor collapses,” Tadjvar explained. “Silence doesn’t evoke the possibility that the care will return; it evokes the feeling of total abandonment, leaving us helpless and all alone in the world.”

That doesn’t mean someone with ADHD doesn’t understand that they are loved or cared for. But it does make it difficult for them to access emotional connection in the moment, especially when there’s a gap in communication or they’re missing reassurance.

While emotional permanence is often discussed in the context of dating and relationships, ADHD coach Dom Passantino, who also has ADHD, said one of its biggest impacts is actually how people see themselves.

“People often flop into discussions of ADHDers’ lack of emotional permanence with the mindset, ‘They forget they’re in love if someone isn’t there,’” he said. “But it’s a lot more than that, and I feel like the darkest impacts of it are on how we view ourselves and not others.”

According to Passantino, many people with ADHD find themselves craving validation from people who rarely offer it while dismissing reassurance from the people who do.

“And when hypersensitivity is thrown on top, you turn these traits from upsetting to actively damaging,” he explained. “This becomes a breeding ground for dysfunctional and abusive relationships for both parties.”

Lewis said: “A critical first step would be the recognition of the phenomenon without judgment.”

One strategy she often recommends is creating an “evidence file”: saving thoughtful text messages, kind emails, handwritten notes or voice messages from loved ones that can be revisited when self-doubt starts creeping in.

“I frequently instruct my clients to develop ‘evidence files,’” Lewis added. “They may then refer back to the evidence file at times when insecurity regarding their partner increases.”

She also says cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) and ADHD coaching can help people learn to pause before assuming silence equals rejection and become more comfortable tolerating uncertainty.

Passantino agreed that keeping reminders of positive interactions can be especially helpful for people with ADHD. He compares it to the everyday systems many people with ADHD already use to remember tasks.

“In very much the same way that an ADHDer will need a Post-it note stuck on their monitor to remind them to buy milk or brush their teeth, we need to remind ourselves of the positive interactions we have with people,” he said.

He said this can be particularly important for people who have spent years masking their ADHD traits and learning to question whether positive feedback is genuine.

“Because we spend so much time masking, we just assume any positive interaction is fake, that people were just humouring us or being polite,” Passantino said. “Celebrating your own personality, not turning down the colours on it, is very important – it’s the classic ADHD coach mantra of ‘being yourself on purpose.’”

According to Tadjvar, strengthening emotional permanence is not only an individual process; loved ones can also help by creating more predictability and consistency within relationships.

“Cultivating emotional permanence requires a collective commitment to building a predictable world,” he said.

He encourages partners, friends and family members to create that sense of security through small, consistent acts of communication. “Sending a quick, ‘Thinking of you, buried in work until 5 p.m.,’ text rather than going radio silent provides the sturdy, predictable scaffolding the ADHD brain needs to feel safe,” he explained.

Ultimately, Tadjvar said, “Cultivating this skill is a practice of rewriting the intervals of absence: transforming silence from a terrifying void of abandonment into a secure, shared space where the connection remains safely intact.”

Keep in mind that it’s important not to self-diagnose. While many people with ADHD relate to emotional permanence, Lewis stressed that it is not unique to ADHD.

Similar experiences can also occur in people living with anxiety disorders, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or attachment-related difficulties.

According to Lewis: “If you find that your inability to emotionally connect with others consistently affects your relationships and/or your daily functioning, consider consulting with a licensed professional mental health provider.”