Paul Kavanagh is a daily columnist in The National newspaper in Scotland, for whom I also write. He is usually known as Wee Ginger Dug, after the dog he once owned. He delivers forthright views on the Scottish political scene and on UK politics as a whole. This came from the email column he wrote for subscribers last night:
Meanwhile, Labour Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who is responsible for the NHS in England, has said he is "very sympathetic" to the idea of bringing private investors into the NHS.
Asked about more competition between NHS hospitals, and with private hospitals, Streeting told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Monday: “Well, we're definitely committed to using the independent sector spare capacity to bring down NHS waiting lists faster.
“We do think that there is a role for financial flows and incentives – that's built into our reform plan as well."
He added that he was open to PFI (Private Finance Initiative) deals in order to build more hospitals. PFI agreements entered into by the last Labour government have been widely criticised as providing poor value for money, primarily serving to funnel public cash into private companies.
Since he began his political career in 2015, 60% of the registered donations accepted by Streeting have come from people and companies linked to private health. Streeting has received a total of £311,400 in donations, so it is scarcely surprising that he has staunchly defended the use of private healthcare to bring down NHS waiting lists.
There's that Labour "change" for you.
I am hoping both he and my editor, Laura Webster, will forgive me for the lengthy quote: I could see little to prune. The words used are those required to deliver the message that Streeting's approach stinks of the type of corruption that he will always deny but which spells out bought influence to secure gain nonetheless. After all, why else did those donors think their money was well spent?
Streeting is rotten to the core and is, as a result, everything that Starmer's Labour Party is all about.
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Making money out of illness is a sick idea and needs curing itself.
And by that I mean the treatment of illness – not that kit that goes into it – and even then I would expect to see some restraint on the pricing of that.
The ‘constrained resources’ argument – that we ‘need’ the extra investment after the debacle of our water carriers – is no longer tenable.
Labour has changed nothing. They are going back to ancient Thatcherite history and ignoring more recent history, where there are chickens coming home to roost aplenty.
Well, I didn’t for them. I knew what to expect.
£300k seems a very very small amount to sell your soul for. What else may have been promised?
It should also be noted that the advisor Streeting has chosen, Alan Milburn, has been involved with private healthcare since ceasing to be an MP ie years. A mightily strange choice to make if you had a commitment to improving and sustaining the NHS.
Nowadays the bribes are usually on the back end, after leaving office. Sweetheart book deals, paid consultancies, media and speaking engagements and various cushy sinecures that set you up for a life of luxury and privilege.
Compare the risky and expensive investment in new technology or process against the far more affordable and reliable investment in politicians. It’s a cold, rational move.
Thank you, both.
Streeting’s pay out will be at least ten fold that “declared” amount when he leaves office. The “douceurs”, the Foreign Office’s preferred term, are not front loaded here. There’s still some trust in the UK system that one will be looked after.
With regard to what’s “declared”, I used to be a lobbyist. There are ways and means of keeping politicians and officials sweet.
It was thirty pieces of silver but , you know, inflation makes it £300,000.
Some may know Seth Godin as a marketer and author (Purple Cow).
Today he moved into new territory looking at AI in Healthcare.
https://seths.blog/2025/02/16-minutes/
As he says: Systems change is never without real dislocations and regret, but this one might be worth building.
I think ROTTEN TO THE CORE deserved to be in capital letters, Richard. I would have made the text bold as well if could figure our how to do it in a comment. It’s almost an understatement, isn’t it. Utterly bought and paid for. Disgraceful!!!
“He added that he was open to PFI (Private Finance Initiative) deals in order to build more hospitals. ”
Labour saddled Scotland with massive PFI debts for hospitals and schools. They are worth a fraction of the incurred debt; some were very poorly constructed.
So Sod off Streeting, shove your PFI where the sun doesn’t shine.
I heard the interview with Streeting on the Today programme. The interviewer asked him about the exorbitant costs of PFI deals made by the last Labour government. To my recollection, Streeting agreed that some PFI deals had not been good value and that it would be important to make sure this was not repeated. Personally I do not think PFI deals are a good choice at all, but it would be fair to Streeting to say he shows awareness of the problems. Whether or how that affects his future actions is another matter.
There are no advantages
The state can always fund for less
It is that simple
Apparently Streeting weighed in yesterday on the Lucy Letby case, condemning attempts to prove her innocence. If my hatred for the man was not already maxed out, this would definitely have pushed me to that point. As with his remarks about the Cass report, he seems to have an unerring ability to be on the wrong side of every issue.
I need to post on this…
Thank you, Richard.
You may wish to add that, according to a recent report, the Mail, I think, Streeting is on manoeuvres.
We should not forget that Streeting and McSweeney are Mandelson’s allies of long standing.
I know what you mean by saying Streeting’s career started in 2015. One could argue it started at Cambridge in the early noughties. His path, like so many others, appears to have been plotted by influential and wealthy backers.
I completely agree.
What I never understand is where these people get their confidence from. Dunning Kruger does not come close to it.
An interesting point was made in this article about how DOGE is trying to shake up Government services in the US, that applies to attempted privatisation of the NHS here.
From https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/02/16/silicon-valley-elon-musk-washington-00204388
“What are the costs of the business-style approach?
In some sense, everybody feels like they could run the DMV more efficiently, or whatever, and maybe they’re right. But part of the problem is the fact that the government’s apparatus needs to serve everybody. And if it needs to serve everybody, then almost by definition you can’t afford to slice your customer base into those who are easiest to serve, and therefore reduce the cost of service.”
It is obviously cheaper to run a private health clinic that only treats a simple to fix medical problem, and doesn’t have to provide care to everyone who might walk in, or even any emergency support if the simple operation goes wrong. If the private health clinic had to provide the same level of care to anyone and everyone as a NHS hospital, would it still make any profit or would it just price itself out of the market?
The private health clinics also have the benefit of the NHS as a backstop, because when things go wrong, the unfortunate patient is shipped off by ambulance to the nearest NHS hospital to be sorted out. And I apologise for such frank language.
And if you don’t have to train staff just poach them from teh NHS.
Streeting was Blair’s boy to replace Starmer. Unfortunately unless only bribed, compromised or corrupt MPs vote, he has no chance. The second handicap is that he projects what he is, a slimy, corrupt creep. So Blair (or McSweeney) has to find someone else, equally acceptable to corporations, the Zionists and the public. No problem with corruption in this, it’s getting the right face.
He also has a tiny majority that could very quickly slip away.
Thank you, John.
The back up is in place, Darren Jones.
I am pleased to think that Streeting will suffer a setback in his political career. The bright side for him is that if he judges that the setback is permanent, he has already done enough to get secure well paid work outside parliament now, rather than joining the flood of ousted ex-Labour MPs in 2029.
Hopefully the 528 majority in Ilford North will dissolve at the next GE.
Streeting comes comes across as a first class know it all which voters dislike.
The likes of Blair, Milburn and Mandelson will have to find someone else!
Streeting believes that prevention is better than cure and that Primary Care should be at the forefront of this strategy. Save money and prevent illness. The problem is that he neither understands medicine nor statistics
See BMJ
https://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2024-080811
Spending time in ineffective prevention strategies stops primary care doing its job of treating illness while avoiding the real problems which are the social and economic determinants of health.
Individual responsibility strategies and neoliberal thinking are bad for your health
Much to agree with