Very Courageous, Minister

Last week, David Cameron promised Labour 'a bare knuckle fight' over the closure of A&E and maternity units down in England. Usual front page stuff in preparation for the next election you might think. Well, actually it isn't. Despite everything that has been going on down in England, the plight of the NHS has not made it onto the front pages until now. You don't believe me? Well, lets check out your knowledge.

1. Did you know that 20 000 junior doctors marched on Westminster in March, including the Queens own surgeons? If you did, did you see tv footage of it? I did, it was on for about 10 seconds and it was the third item in the news that day. On the later bulletein, the tv coverage was not shown; the story was simply read.

2. Have you heard of Chai Patel? Of course you have; he's that guy that was involved in the 'cash for peerages' scandal. But did you know that he owns the Priory Group? This is a private health care concern; they go round buying up nursing homes, GP practices, brain injury clinics and day hospitals. They are part of extensive privatisation going on in primary care down in England. Did you hear anyone mention this? Nope.

3.Did you know that every cabinet minister in Westminster has either a cut or closure in health care going on in their back yard? Don't you think this might be newsworthy? Did you hear anyone mention it on the news when David Cameron was setting out his stall? Nope.

4. Did you know that all those A&Es were under threat down south before last week? Bet you didn't.

The truth is that the NHS is bouncing like an unexploded grenade round the corridors of Westminster. None of the major parties up until now, have wanted to touch it. This is for two reasons. Firstly, they are afraid of the private healthcare companies. They are very influential and can do all kinds of rotten things, like withdrawing adverts from papers that aren't pleasing them, turning papers against politicians that aren't pleasing them, withdrawing investment and so on. Secondly, there's the whole problem of PFI. If Cameron is serious about tackling A&E closures, he has to be serious about tackling PFI and this means central government taking on PFI debt from the local authorites. This in turn means that the money will have to be found to pay these debts, which will mean either a rise in taxes or a cut in public spending. Neither is popular with the voter.

Maybe Cameron is playing a cleverer game. The Tory party is not in good shape just now, there are votes to be won in A&E closures and maybe he is hoping to pick up a few seats, without actually having to worry about what has to be done to stop the closures. Nobody wants to be holding the grenade when it goes off.

Whatever happens, Cameron has put the NHS on the map. His declaration of policy will force the others to declare their position as well. It also means that the NHS cannot be kept off the front page for much longer. It's not going away. Whatever David Cameron might feel about his 'courageous decision' he has done the NHS a favour and all those who are campaigning for it. I never thought I would say this to a Tory, but; thank you, David!