Andy Burnham was in a furious mood this morning when he toured the broadcast studios. It was hardly surprising: most people would grow rather ratty if CCHQ wasn’t just coming after you but briefing that it is coming after you. He angrily told listeners that he did not ‘accept this attack on the integrity of the last Government’. He listed all the actions of the Labour government that he believed showed he and colleagues were not in the wrong. That list included:
- ‘It was the last government that introduced independent regulation into the NHS’.
- ‘I brought in Robert Francis to investigate what happened’ at Stafford Hospital. Burnham said he overruled civil service advice when he engaged Francis.
- Burnham responded to mortality data for Basildon in late 2009. ‘I made a statement in the House of Commons days after, describing the actions that we were taking’.
Burnham complained that the BBC wasn’t focusing on the fact that the Keogh review used data gathered under the Coalition, not Labour. Then he accused this government of trying to blame the last government. He said:
‘What we have here is a political attempt to rewrite the Francis report and put all of the blame on the last Government. But it simply isn’t good enough because what we have seen is that all 14 hospitals in the Keogh review, standards have fallen on the Coalition’s watch. I believe the Government is portraying the NHS in as negative a light as it can, I believe it had an agenda of privatisation and marketisation of the NHS. I just believe more focus needs to be put on that. What is this Government doing holding it accountable at these trusts? I think we need a solution and the one I would put forward is this: let’s all get behind the Francis recommendations on safe staffing. That is the way forward that surely we can all unite around and that is what the Government should do.’
In many ways Burnham’s conspiracy theorising is clever as voters don’t trust politicians with the NHS, and so accusing his opponents of having a secret agenda could carry a fair bit of currency. But in his zeal to list all the things he and his party did to protect the NHS, he clearly forgot the ‘marketisation’ his own party introduced to the service. Perhaps his attacks would have more integrity if Labour had always stuck to its socialist ideals: it would make it much easier for him to attack the Evil Tories.
Now they’re after Burnham, the Tories aren’t going to relent. They also want it to be clear that whatever happens, they think they’re winning. Readers of our Evening Blend email learned last night that Tory sources are briefing that keeping Burnham will damage Labour’s prospects and prove that Ed Miliband is too weak to call the shots, but sacking him will show that Miliband is having to dance to the CCHQ tune. This campaign is about something bigger than just angry Andy Burnham’s scalp.
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