There is a popular misconception going around that suggests that Andrew Lansley is slightly loopy, a rogue Tory who succeeded in surprising the coalition by announcing a series of measures to reorganise the NHS, much to the chagrin of his Leader David Cameron, and their Liberal Democrat ‘partners’.
The theory is based around Cameron’s pre-election promise to support the NHS and his public pledge of ‘no top-down re-organisation’. The myth of Lansley the rogue minister is propagated by those like Roy Lilley, whose amusing portrayal of Lansley as La-La has done much to undermine Lansley’s image as a serious politician and rebrand him as some blithering nit-wit with no real idea of the chaos and destruction he is creating.
Well, it is a very wrong perception. In opposition Lansley was the only Shadow Minister given a promise by Cameron he would keep his portfolio after the General Election. Cameron and Lansley know exactly what they are doing, and they know that there is more than one way of skinning a cat! People who think the fight is about ‘saving the NHS’ are right, but they are looking down the wrong end of the telescope.
Labour (and those isolated hopeless Lib Dems) keep concentrating on the issue of the privatisation of health service providers, but Lansley knows that is a no-no for the electorate. Stick up a Virgin Hospital sign outside your local general hospital… and you would just have to stand back and wait for the screams of public outrage.
Scrap Primary Care Trusts and replace them with Clinical Commissioning Groups… and virtually no-one even knows what you are talking about. Tell them that you are ‘giving power to the doctors’ to decide, instead of unaccountable bureaucrats… and you’re home and dry.
Lansley portrays the Clinical Commissioning Groups as groupings of GPs sitting around the table and setting local commissioning strategies and negotiating local contracts. In practice, the duties will be tendered and farmed out to private sector organisations by the GPs because they have neither the time, nor the inclination to do the job themselves.
Privatise commissioning, and the privatisation of the provider services under spurious competition rules will follow as sure as night follows day.
Andrew Lansley has been hand in glove with private sector health organisations for years. He is no mug. He knows what he is doing and unless Labour get their act together and explain what he is doing, he will deliver Cameron’s privatisation of the NHS by stealth!
Spot on Bob; Never forget that one of the favourite tricks of the Establishment(Blair was one of the best exponents) is , when they come up against very formidable opposition ,is to use the old salami trick, one slice at a time, create a diversion/smokescreen and Bingo, within a few months theyv’e achieved what they wanted in the 1st place, with maybe a few months delay, which is irrelevant once you have your legislation on the statute book, and privatisation of the N.H.S. has been the Holy Grail for the Tories since the inception of the N.H.S. IN 1948. As you correctly state Bob, Lansley is no mug, he wouldn’t still be where he is, even with the disastrous P.R. botch up that they have made with this Health Care Bill and the concessions they have had to make throughout their attempts to get this bill onto the statute book(and they will, even if they have to postpone some of the more virulent attributes of the bill,they will come back at a more opportune time, hence the salami slice tactics)
I think there will be a problem on this campaign Bob, getting the Labour Party to see the whole or bigger picture due to the policies of Blair and Brown , with their accomadation of the private sector in ancillary sevices provision and attempts to assimilate the private sector into the provision of private beds, operations etc, only a mobilisation of all the forces opposed to Lansleys privatisation reforms, i.e. the professional bodies, R.C.N. B.M.A. etc, the Health Service Unions, patients organisations, charitable bodies, councillors, M.P.s. While we may have to work hard to get M.P.s in our area to come out in wholesale opposition to the bill getting onto the statute book at this late hour, Clegg in Sheffield Hallam, Mullholland in Leeds N.W. a couple of the rodents in Bradford, I think you have a more difficult task in the Birmingham and West Midlands area apart from the rodent Lib/Dems, you have a far greater concentration of Blairite/New Labour M.P.s who imho would be far more prepared to compromise over the N.H.S. reforms than any other regional grouping, i,e, your own Rt. Hon. Member, and Liam(no money left)Byrne imho. Should you need any help in identifying any of the others, I’m sure Gary Elsby will be able to help you in that task, in his more lucid moments. Hopefully the movement can push them into allout opposition to Lansley’s bill
Btw Bob, I don’t suppose it will have escaped your attention that Birminghams 1st team had no problem dealing with one of the less successful Yorkshire teams, and are the only Birmingham team left in the F.A. Cup. What pure comedy gold Birminghams 2nd team provided at the Emirates Stadium yesterday(as opposed to the fight that Yorkshire’s most successful team gave Arsenal in the last round of the F.A. Cup) That’s the problem when you get shut of the most successful manager youv’e had since Ron the Racist, the Blessed Martin O’Neill, and replace him with the ex-manager of Europes most bigoted sectarian football club(Glasgow Rangers) Ah well you can concentrate on trying to survive in the Premier League, methinks youv’e got a job on, you should have gone for Chris Hughton a far better manager, just look at what a good job he’s doing with Birminghams 1st team, should you need any help or advice with your teams travails I’m sure Gary would be prepared to offer a little help, he’s not too bad when you get him off politics and onto football
Gerald, I thought for a second you were going to make a sensible comment all the way through, and you had even hinted at a paragraph near the start, but sadly you lost the plot about half way.
I think Small Heath did really well, (although only against a Yorkshire team and it is well known that they don’t even play cricket very well anymore, and they’ve always been crap at football). I’ve told you before, being Yorkshire’s best football team is like being the best downhill skier in Barbados. I hope Small Heath they go all the way to Wembley like they did last year. If it results in them failing to get promotion – or even, joy to behold, relegated again – it will truly be a bonus.
PS – I think you will find Mr Elsby’s “lucid moments” have long since passed, poor lad. His politic analysis (with the emphasis on the anal) is about as lucid as your understanding of football…. all over the place.