Rishi Sunak refuses to reveal if he uses private GP - as NHS waiting times soar
The prime minister said his personal healthcare situation is "not really relevant" but the head of the nurses' union said he should "come clean" and Labour accused him of being out of touch.
But the head of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) told him to "come clean" and Labour said Mr Sunak gave the impression of a leader who "not only doesn't use the NHS but doesn't understand the scale of the challenges".
We certainly see some weird arguments in the political world. This one seems to be undisguised moral blackmail designed to appeal to those who clapped the NHS. Suggesting with no subtlety whatsoever that Mr Sunak may not have the highest possible confidence in the NHS and might be wickedly unsympathetic to its endless demands for more of our cash.
The dreary nonsense perpetuates itself as political nonsense tends to. As if a dreary political landscape is intentional, a grey and meaningless world designed to sap our will to live. Come to think of it, that could help the NHS couldn't it?
But no, perhaps not. It's our cash they want.
10 comments:
Consider all those Labour MPs who sent their children to selective schools. Good for pointing out hypocrisy but little effect in the real world.
And in any event if the nurses can withdraw their labour then NHS 'customers' can shop elsewhere.
Follow the money, as Deep Throat told Woodward in the film.
A million years ago a Labour MP (Barbara Castle) was accused of using private medicine. It transpired that all the attention she got from the NHS was indistinguishable from her using private medicine. Except she didn't need to pay for it.
DJ - I think quite a few will shop elsewhere where waiting times make it seem worthwhile. People always have of course, but more may now be in a position to consider it.
James - it's a good rule, applies all over the place.
dearieme - I can't imagine Barbara Castle receiving anything but good treatment from the NHS. I don't know if it is so, but NHS emergency treatment seems generally better than treatment for chronic conditions.
Barbara Castle - a Minister For Transport who couldn't actually drive...
Both Labour and Tory elect for private rather than state services for their own families, if personal finances allow. Both argue - when accused of hypocrisy - that they are trying as politicians to close the gap between the two levels of service.
Sunak's best bet was to get himself a clean bill of health, and then go NHS for the brief time he is likely to be PM.
Dave - says it all in some ways doesn't it?
Sam - in that respect, the gap is a useful reminder of political hypocrisy. If they ever admit that the NHS isn't good enough, something fundamental will have changed.
Blair effectively declared that the local comp wasn't good enough for his brats by sending them miles across London to attend the best school that could be presented as a state school. And when it proved to be not all that good he hired private tutors who just happened to be teachers at one of the best private schools in the country - Westminster.
dearieme - which suggests it isn't easy to find a good state school. That's certainly our impression from the schools round here.
We have socialist friends who eventually gave up on the local state primary and sent the kids private. I asked why. "For the same reason you do, to try to get as good an education for them as we received free in Scottish rural academies". Frank, you must admit.
They ended up delighted with the wisdom of their decision.
Almost as soon as I left school the new Rector (i.e. Principal) wrote to all the local bigwigs and businessmen who sponsored prizes and told them to keep their money because prizes were divisive. Without being a wild enthusiast for prizes I think I can see a downside to his precipitate act. In rural Scotland too; he was lucky not to be strung up.
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