Some of the great commenters on this blog have been discussing the danger that Keir Starmer, once in power, will push through even more privatisation of the NHS like his Thatcherite predecessor, Tony Blair. In June last year, Left Horizons published an article reposted from the Skwawkbox reporting that his noxious Shadow Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, had received a £15,000 donation from a hedge fund which owns one of the giant American private healthcare firms, which is involved in the privatisation of the NHS. The article, ‘Shadow Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, takes donation from Tory donor with private health interests’, begins
‘Keir Starmer’s Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting accepted £15,000 from a donor with huge interests in privatised health care. The Electoral Commission’s register of donations shows that Streeting reported the receipt in January 2022 of the donation from John Armitage, a hedge fund founder and manager who has given over £3 million to the Tories.
Armitage, ranked number 138 on the 2021 Times ‘rich list’, is co-founder and director of the Egerton Capital hedge fund. According to the HedgeFollow site, among its almost £19bn of investments, Armitage’s fund owns shares worth almost £834m in UnitedHealth (UH), a vast US private health corporation that has spent millions lobbying US politicians for its interests. NHS campaigners told Skwawkbox that UH has played a key role in the ‘americanisation’ of the NHS that began under New Labour and continued apace under the Tories:
*the Health and Care Bill has just put into law an American scheme reducing state-funded services to profitable standards and pushing patients to pay for the rest, by rewarding providers who cut ‘unprofitable’ care (known as ACOs or ICSs)
*UnitedHealth was among the companies who developed this system with New Labour. Blair advisor Simon Stevens even became UnitedHealth CEO, before being appointed by the Tories to run the NHS to push through their ‘reforms’
*UnitedHealth subsidiary Optum is ’embedded in the whole process’. Optum was accused in a 2019 Science Magazine study of racial bias in its systems that result in less money being allocated for the care of black patients. Optum responded that its systems help “clinicians provide more effective patient care every day“’
The article states that the donation has raised concerns among NHS supporters trying to protect the service’s mission to provide medical care free at the point of delivery.
It also notes that Streeting was approached for comment, but didn’t reply.
Tags: Conservatives, Corporate Donations, Electoral Commission, Hedge Funds, John Armitage, Kier Starmer, Labour Party, Margaret Thatcher, NHS, NHS Privatisation, Private Healthcare Companies, tony blair, United Health, Wes Streeting
Beastrabban\'s Weblog 
January 16, 2023 at 2:21 pm |
The more I hear the less I can vote Labour. I’d sooner vote for the Monster Raving Loony Party.
January 16, 2023 at 4:17 pm |
Nothing wrong with the Monster Raving Loony Party. ‘Twas a very sad day when Screaming Lord Sutch left us. The only political manifesto I’ve bought was the Loonies’, and back in the 90s I bought his autobiography, Life As Sutch. I can remember when they invited either David Steele or David Owen to join them. Whichever one of the two it was, they refused, and so Sutch remarked that if he had, he’d be preparing for government. We lost a great satirical voice when he passed away.
January 16, 2023 at 4:45 pm
I remember him well.