“Privatization does not mean you take a public institution and give it to some nice person, it means you take a public institution and give it to an unaccountable tyranny.” – Noam Chomsky
Deliberate destruction of NHS by Tory government meant 2023 began with people dying waiting for ambulances, people dying in queueing ambulances outside hospitals and people dying in hospital corridors. The cause of unnecessary deaths is Tory policy of making NHS fail. This policy exists to try to create consensus for removal of NHS and replace it with a privateer racketeer system.
Underfunding, reduction in number of beds, using Brexit as a tool to remove thousands of (EU citizen) medical personnel, and diversion of money via fraudulent contracts for alleged services (particularly for Covid pandemic) combine to attack the capability of NHS to operate.
Parasites wait for their chance. International private healthcare businesses and healthcare property owners, all of whom are generous donors to Tories (and to New New Labour), are confident that they will enjoy endless income streams in the near future. They planted their employees in government and bought the others.
Any public service is a potential daily lottery win for an exploiter who is deemed to “own” it. The necessity of a public service for its users means they have no choice but to use it. This is true for health service more than any other. Wealthy owners of the Tories know how much they can enhance their wealth if allowed to control the supply of healthcare.
Cheerleaders for privatisation of healthcare have no logical argument to persuade the public that privateer racketeering is preferable for patients than NHS. Their single tactic, repeated endlessly, is to point at effects of Tory destruction of NHS and exclaim “look, NHS isn’t working, we need to privatise.” That is all they have and they stick to that mendacity regardless of how many times their twist of logic is elucidated by anyone else.
Libertarian think-tanks focus on criticism of NHS while avoiding mentioning the culprits – Tories. Institute Of Economic Affairs (IEA) has nearly five hundred articles on NHS, none of which is supportive. Its ‘Head Of Political Economy’ Kristian Niemietz publishes the same piece every few months wherein he presents a deceptive explanation of how an “insurance-based system” is preferable to NHS. Former IEA staff member Kate Andrews, now a “journalist” (Spectator), is dedicated to using Tory-created destruction of NHS as a reason to promote its end. She benefits from frequent yes-platforming on TV and radio to promote her con. Her most recent contribution in The Telegraph on 30th December (2022) concluded
“a system has been devised to avoid any appearance of failing to deliver. The public are piled onto a 7.2m waiting list instead, asked to wait, asked to postpone, asked in veiled ways to stay away when there’s any kind of disruption or crunch, as to not jeopardise or sully the reputation of ‘our NHS,’ the ‘envy of the world.’ Of course no one envies it. It’s a failed healthcare model. And it has been for some time; we’re just still not ready to admit it.” – Andrews Telegraph (30th December 2022)
Andrews did not hide her glee at results of Tories’ war on NHS.
The privatisation cheerleaders are keen to declare that, despite warnings of healthcare privatisation for several years, it hasn’t happened. This is an argument of specious semantics. If a public service is destroyed then its former users have no choice but to switch to a privately-controlled service. It is privatisation by default. One of 2022’s many Tory Health Secretaries Sajid Javid demonstrated this con-trick by his intent to “offer” patients the “right to choose” to go private if vital care they needed is unavailable. He proposed scenarios where patients, having just been told of the severity of an illness, were then advised that continuity of their life depended on paying for private healthcare.
A few years ago the public were notified of Tories’ plan for NHS and how they would use Brexit to help execute the plan. The messengers were ignored and dismissed by enough people to give Tories a large parliamentary majority in 2019 general election. The rapid decline of NHS capability since then is unsurprising.
Tory government commentary on NHS, led by current Health Secretary Steve Barclay, is exhausted by lies, misrepresentation, blame-shifting and wilful ignorance. The government stated that it does not acknowledge the existence of a major crisis. The reality is described daily by experienced dedicated medical staff.
Political “opposition” is absent. Starmer’s Labour has no interest in blocking the switch to privateer racketeering of healthcare. News media coverage and analysis ranges from full support for Tories to meek calls for action. The latter never accept that Tories caused the crisis deliberately.
Some people choose to be mystified by the government’s apparent blissful ignorance of a situation that needn’t be. But, it isn’t ignorance. The Tories are not a government, they are the opposite of democracy, they are in it for themselves and their donors/employers. Their apparent lack of care is actually a keen interest in assault.
Never underestimate how far Tories are willing to go to achieve their aims.
Related blogs
Tories: NHS will be free at point of delivery
NHS destruction is a key component of Tory Brexit
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