Burnham's exocet misfires
David Blackburn 3:21pm
The sword of truth is working overtime this afternoon. First, Andy Burnham writes a letter to David Cameron demanding answers about a £21,000 donation from John Nash, chairman of CareUK, to the office of, oh dear, Andrew Lansley. As Paul Waugh notes, a conflict of interest scandal looms here because CareUK is a private firm that makes £400m running GP surgeries and so forth for the NHS.
But the truth will out as they say. It turns out that the Chairman of BUPA, Lord Leitch, wasted £5,000 on Gordon Brown’s unopposed leadership campaign. BUPA also does rather well out of the NHS. The indefatigable Waugh has dug up this gem from a speech Leitch made to the Lords:
'When we debate healthcare in the UK, all too often the focus is on the NHS alone. Yet the independent sector is more important than ever, providing services directly to patients, residents, insurers, and to the NHS itself. Going forward, all of us must think in terms of partnership, not rivalry…I hope that this legislation will help consign to the dustbin of history the false dichotomies between public and private, and also between healthcare and social care.’
I trust Burnham the tireless scribe is drafting a second letter?
These are storms in a couple of teacups: Nash and Leitch have considerable interests independent of healthcare. However, Lansley’s office was foolish to accept a donation from a health supremo; it invites trouble because, as with #welovethenhs, Burnham is desperate to pick any fight with the Tories over the NHS, the issue that defines Cameron and the postwar Labour party.
UPDATE: The plot thickens. Not given to missing the bus, the Liberal Democrats have now joined in the frenzied moralising. Norman Baker has made the following statement:
“This is a staggering conflict of interest which completely undermines the Tories claim that the NHS would be safe in their hands. Many people will question Andrew Lansley’s judgement and the impact that these donations have on Conservative health policy. With Labour in the pockets of the unions and the Tories taking money from private health firms, only the Liberal Democrats can be trusted to run our NHS.”
Indeed, but the sword of truth looks a little blunt in the hands of a party that has received £445,000 from Alpha Healthcare. Perhaps the party political donation system requires reform.
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Maggie
January 15th, 2010 3:38pm Report this commentWas Lord Leitch's donation to Gordon Brown made before or after Brown expanded the role of BUPA in the NHS? I wonder how much money BUPA has made out of the NHS since they started treating NHS patients.
But it was stupid of Landsley. In fact I think he should be sacked.
Sally Chatterjee
January 15th, 2010 3:43pm Report this commentBurnham always amuses me. A career politician, he has never had a real job in his life. Not having run even a whelk stall, he does not even have a first aid certificate. Yet he's allowed to run the NHS. Sadly we see the consequences, he spends half his time trying to play politics and getting tangled up in his own sticky web. You'd think could spend his time helping his deprived constituents but alas.
toco
January 15th, 2010 3:46pm Report this commentSomeone should look into the massive donations by certain City players connected with the venture capital industry.It may only be a coincidence but it seems strange that some gains are only charged at 10% and others have been reduced from 40% to 18% when Labour claims not to be a supporter of the super rich.On the surface at least there could be a massive conflict of interest for Brown here and it should be properly investigated sooner rather than later.Donations to political parties and favours inluding financial concessions and honours must be kept entirely separate so perhaps Andy Burnham should write another letter to Brown on behalf of us all.
Percy
January 15th, 2010 4:10pm Report this commentEverton Burnham is 5 star 24 carat pillock, and is best ignored.
PlatoSays
January 15th, 2010 4:11pm Report this commentIf a party or individual gets a donation then frankly they should be prepared to defend it rather than slinking away or refusing it.
Chuck Unsworth
January 15th, 2010 4:33pm Report this commentBurnham. Not very clever. Quite decorative, though and says his lines beautifully. Shame about the colour of eyeliner, perhaps Make-up need to reconsider.
JohnPage
January 15th, 2010 4:34pm Report this commentEvidence accumulates that Lansley is irretrievably stupid.
KT everytime
January 15th, 2010 4:42pm Report this commentWho's watching out for the country while these idiots play their stupid games!
strapworld
January 15th, 2010 5:00pm Report this commentThis is all very interesting. However when Cameron has made such a stupid song and dance about the NHS being safe in the Conservative's hands, Landsley is proving, yet again, he is incapable of being trusted with a major office of state!
I agree with Maggie Lansley, who is an arrogant man, should be dumped immediately,
Vulture
January 15th, 2010 5:11pm Report this commentI bet Givenchy or Chanel sponsor Burnham's mascara and false eyelashes. I think we should be told!
Dorothy Wilson
January 15th, 2010 5:27pm Report this commentThe more I see and hear of Burnham the sillier he seems.
As far as the donation is concerned, it appears that at least one of the "experts" advising the government on the swine flu panic had received payments from one of the drug companies providing the vaccine. Now we are faced with a massive bill for those vaccines for an epedemic that never was.
Saurce for the goose Mr Burnham?
Liz Brown
January 15th, 2010 5:53pm Report this commentOh dear - mascara man should go back to nursery school
david morris
January 15th, 2010 10:18pm Report this comment"Perhaps the party political donation system requires reform".
y'think ?????????
PAUL GILBOY
January 16th, 2010 9:51am Report this commentWasn’t Andy Burnham the man who presided over the NHS when it had a worse attrition rate than the war in Iraq due to MRSA? And, if I remember correctly he came out in support of a hospital that had seen off nearly three hundred patients saying they were doing a good job!
It makes you wonder what outcomes Andy Burnham was looking for!
Labour have failed in the stewardship of the NHS- billions poured in for less productivity, unless you use Andy’s rational and count the slaughtered, as a job well done.
Michael Booth
January 16th, 2010 1:46pm Report this commentIn Italy there's a bit of a furore about beautiful women being put forward as politicans simply because they look good - perhaps Andy Burnham is the British equivalent... (do you think he shaves his legs?)
TrevorsDen
January 16th, 2010 1:56pm Report this commentHow is Landsley stupid when the article makes clear that both labour (ie Brown directly) and the Libdems have received money from private healthcare sources??
Would it have been cleaver to turn down money that opponents have gratefully snapped up?
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