Bevan was also aware that the Tories desperately wanted to stop the creation of the welfare state. This was particularly true of Churchill, who bitterly hated the idea of the proles getting free medicine, loudly denouncing the new welfare state and NHS as a ‘A Gestapo for England’. This shows that once the War was over, Churchill was basically another hard-right Tory louse and the returning servicemen were quite right to kick him out.
At one point in its creation, the amount spent on the new NHS exceeded the initial estimates. Churchill seized on this to try and discredit the whole scheme. Bevan says of this in In Place of Fear
The first few Estimates for the Health Service seemed to justify the critics. Expenditure exceeded the Estimates by large amounts, and Mr Churchill with his usual lack of restraint plunged into the attack. In this he showed less insight than his colleagues, who watched his antics with increasing alarm. They knew the Service was already popular with the people. If the Service could be killed, they wouldn’t mind, but they would wish it done more stealthily and in such a fashion that they would not appear to have responsibility.
And this is what is going on now, with the piecemeal privatisation of the NHS. 95 Tory and Lib Dem MPs in the last government had ties to private healthcare firms seeking to benefit from the NHS denationalisation. And my guess that privatisation is one of the motives for this assault on junior doctors. It’s to get rid of determined opposition to privatisation from within the medical profession itself. I also wonder if the aim isn’t also to drive doctors out of the NHS, and into private companies, which can then be employed in NHS contracts.
This must be stopped. Defend the NHS. Support the junior doctors.
Tags: 'In Place of Fear', Aneurin Bevan, Junior Doctors, Lib-Dems, NHS, Private Healthcare Providers, Privatisation, Winston Churchill
Beastrabban\'s Weblog 
February 12, 2016 at 11:32 am |
Reblogged this on 61chrissterry.
February 12, 2016 at 12:22 pm |
[…] Source: Nye Bevan on Conservative Plans to Destroy the NHS | Beastrabban’s Weblog […]
February 12, 2016 at 2:41 pm |
Reblogged this on amnesiaclinic and commented:
It is utterly tragic that the NHS has lasted less than 70 years. Reading the memoirs and autobiographies of those who lived under the previous ‘you have to pay or suffer’ system clearly show the suffering, death and injustice of such a system.
A civilised society? Gone with the wholesale destruction of the welfare system and affordable housing plus the hard-won rights of workers being tossed into the trash.
Unless we wake up from the distractions and divide-and-rule and put a stop to it.
Now – while we can.
February 12, 2016 at 3:13 pm |
Reblogged this on Jaffer's blog.
March 8, 2016 at 8:55 am |
Re blogged this in the Cheltenham 38 Degrees group busy with NHS Reinstatement Bill – Petition launched
ref: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/local_chapters/38-degrees-cheltenham/forum_threads/4503
Unfortunately you have to login to see the info.
March 8, 2016 at 9:04 am |
Thanks, Michelle. 🙂 I’m flattered you found it worth posting on their site!
March 8, 2016 at 9:21 am
Of course it was worth posting – is the Pope a catholic! 🙂
Apologies I sometimes come to your posts quite late, I can’t keep up with my reading without being stuck in front of a PC all day and that’s something my eyes and me don’t do too well on.
March 8, 2016 at 9:30 am |
PS: commentators in 38 Deg are well pleased with your info!
March 8, 2016 at 9:41 am |
PPS: They also had this link in the 38Degrees discussion just in case any one missed this proof of the shambles, ‘Decimation of DOH/NHSE/HEE regarding ‘7-Day NHS plan’ on – 23/02/16: https://youtu.be/lMlA4gPtrBk
Apologies if this link has already been discussed still catching up on posts.