RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: Is Wes Streeting for real, boasting about two thirds of patients only waiting 18 weeks for treatment? That’s more than four months!
Labour’s Wes Streeting is sometimes mentioned as our next Prime Minister; This is probably because the prospect of Ed Miliband or Angry Ginge Rayner getting the job when Starmer finally snaps is too scary to contemplate.
He gained a reputation for being outspoken and, to be honest, not as evasive as many of his Cabinet colleagues.
No one thinks getting rid of the NHS is an easy task, but some of us might balk at his idea of progress.
Streeting was revealed while taking questions from callers on Nick Ferrari’s LBC phone call. He had the presence of mind to acknowledge that at least some listeners would shout on the radio because their experience of healthcare was far removed from the glamor he was trying to sell.
He welcomed success in reducing wait times but acknowledged there was more to be done. You can say it again.
It looks like the NHS is close to reaching its target of 65 per cent of patients being treated within 18 weeks. What about the remaining 35?
I’m sorry, make me do it again. More than seven million treatments are ongoing and 18 weeks is almost four and a half months.
This type of delay can be fatal in many cases. This is not progress, it is a national scandal, plus the near impossibility of getting a quick GP appointment and the target reflects a lack of ambition.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has gained a reputation for speaking straight and, to be fair, he hasn’t been as evasive as many of his cabinet colleagues.
Wes was also keen to reassure us that he was doing his part to reduce waiting lists. Apparently, he was driving down the street when an ambulance came speeding from the wrong direction. With no time to waste in a medical emergency, he pulled over for four seconds to let the ambulance pass.
Remember, four seconds is neither here nor there if the ambulance has to queue in the car park, and despite Streeting’s optimism, one in 10 patients still experience 12-hour waits before being admitted to A&E.
Wes is always keen to cultivate a ‘straight man’ image, but those of us with longer memories remember that he also had a bad habit, such as when he said he wanted to push my colleague Jan Moir under the train for writing something about a gay pop star, something he himself took exception to.
Still, Streeting at least answers the questions, even if some of those answers are unconvincing. The same cannot be said of Surkeir, who sees any attempt to get him to explain himself as a personal insult; this is evidenced by his petulant reaction to the Speaker, who had to remind him once again that the real purpose of Prime Minister’s Questions was to get the Prime Minister to answer them.
Starmer arrogantly ignores questions from Kemi Badenoch and either sticks to a lame script or starts shouting about Liz Truss, who was Prime Minister for the best part of four years ago, for about ten minutes.
We now discover that Peter Mandelson misled the House three times about the security review. I have previously described him as a thorough and complete lawyer. His oft-repeated ‘achievements’ are completely worthless and insincere. After being publicly condemned by respected former Labor Defense Secretary and NATO leader George Robertson, Starmer chattered about increasing spending on the military from 2.3 per cent to 2.6 per cent of GDP, although this is woefully inadequate and has yet to materialize.
If the 3 per cent target is met in the next decade it will be too little, too late and Starmer will be long gone, his only undeniable achievement being that he has left Britain defenseless.
Be aware that in the presence of the Chancellor, Surkeir can at times seem like a pillar of honesty and integrity. Rachel From Complaints was at it again this week, trying to claim that she created the fastest growing economy in the G7; It’s a ludicrous boast that was immediately shot down by the IMF, which said Britain was the country worst equipped to deal with the collapse of the Iran war.
What it actually does is keep us busy with skyrocketing tax rises, the fastest-growing energy bills, the fastest-growing benefit burdens, the fastest-growing youth unemployment figures and record pub and restaurant bankruptcies.
Predictably, he tries to blame all of this on Trump, even though he had turned the British economy into a tailspin long before the first bombs fell on Tehran.
From the NHS to defense spending, Net Zero ‘cutting our energy bills’ and record numbers of illegals crossing the Channel, this terrible, uninformed, incompetent government is trying to fool us, making us buy everything from misleading exaggerations to shameless distortions and outright lies.
How stupid do they think we are?
