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This is what Jeremy Hunt thinks of the NHS

I was in a meeting this morning when the news of the latest Cabinet reshuffle (excuse me if I think that sounds like public schoolboy slang for something rather sinister) was announced. So forgive me if I am a little late to the general outrage over the appointment of Jeremy Hunt. Please excuse me if my writing is a little crude or the tone of this rant is a little hysterical, because I am genuinely shocked by this piece of news.

This is now the man in charge of the NHS:

According to his best friend Michael Gove, Jeremy is a ‘fantastic dancer’ with a special talent for the Lambada, so Dave’s obviously picked the right man to supervise the carve up of Britain’s most precious institution.

According to his best friend Michael Gove, Jeremy is a ‘fantastic dancer’ with a special talent for the Lambada, so Dave’s obviously picked the right man to supervise the carve up of Britain’s most precious institution.

Back to Jeremy. He’s probably best known for his role at Leveson as Murdoch’s flack catcher in chief and human shield for his lovely boss, so I guess getting his hands on the NHS is a thank you present for being such a good boy.

‘But surely he can’t be worse than Lansley?’ you all chorus.

Er yes.

This article, in which Hunt “called for the health service to be dismantled”, saying it was “no longer relevant”, was kindly posted on my Facebook page a few minutes ago by the wonderful Candy Udwin of Camden United Against the Cuts.

It dates from 2009, when the prospect of a Tory government was just that. We all knew that Gordon Brown and Labour were on their last legs (with the likes of Murdoch happily twisting the knife) but we had yet to live the nightmare that what is perhaps the worst government in living memory. Compared to this lot, Thatcher seems like a socialist.

Lansley’s Health and Social Care Act has already made a mockery of Cameron’s claims that ‘the NHS is safe in my hands’ but the appointment of Hunt surely takes his contempt for both the NHS and the electorate to a new level. Free healthcare may not be ‘relevant’ to multi millionaire businessmen like Hunt, Cameron, Osborne and co, but it is one of the foundations of civil society and 99 per cent of us just NEED it.

Without the NHS I’d either be dead or in such bad debt I might as well be dead – I say this as the mother of three small children all delivered by C-section – god knows how much I would have to have paid for this privately. I’m self employed so if, for example, I was living in the US, I would not be eligible for any company schemes.

I’d be totally and utterly up shit creek. And I’d be one of the luckier ones as at least I could sell the house. And I’m fit enough to work and I have family members who can help me.

I could go on and on in a similar vein but it’s all too depressing.

Instead let’s have some fun (I like to have fun) and look at George Osborne being booed at the Paralympics.

Now that can’t fail to bring a smile to your face (unless you’re George, obviously).

One Comment

  1. Nicholas says:

    A few days later and it was shown that Hunt was indeed Branson’s man in the NHS.

    A couple of days before that, we asked Richard Branson about his role in the destruction of the NHS and here was his response:

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