Jeremy Corbyn joins junior doctors and slams Tories for ‘attacking the NHS’s core’

Last Updated: April 26, 2016By
Jeremy Corbyn speaks to Junior doctors outside the Department of Health [Image: Yui Mok/PA Wire].

Jeremy Corbyn speaks to Junior doctors outside the Department of Health [Image: Yui Mok/PA Wire].

This is the man one commenter on This Blog described as “weak” and “pathetic” – standing up for what he believes is right.

David Cameron, on the other hand – the man who isn’t fit to be called ‘prime minister’ any more, if evidence about his party’s conduct in last year’s general election is to be believed – was described on a placard as “flogging your NHS to offshore tax haven mates”.

So who would you rather have running the UK?

The “dodgy” corporate puppet whose involvement with tax havens, bare-faced refusal to curb tax avoidance, and apparent flouting of the rules to buy the general election shames his party and his class?

Or the principled leader who, together with his shadow chancellor, stood shoulder to shoulder with Britain’s brightest and best and denounced their persecutor?

Jeremy Corbyn has thrown his support behind junior doctors with a tub-thumping speech to thousands outside Downing Street.

The Labour leader cast off Tory claims his party would not back medics by joining a passionate march past Parliament.

Teachers joined striking doctors in solidarity to fill Westminster Bridge on the walk from St Thomas’ Hospital to the Department of Health – across the street from David Cameron ‘s home.

Mr Corbyn demanded Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt “come out of hiding” and address medics after their first A&E strike in NHS history.

And he joked: “Don’t worry, not all Jeremys are bad.”

Standing outside the Department of Health, he told medics the NHS was “under threat from a Government that is more interested in attacking the core of the NHS than supporting the NHS and people that keep us all alive”.

As snow and hail battered Whitehall, he went on: “I have come here today to say thank you to everyone who works in the NHS for all that you do in whatever grade you are.

“Whether you’re a cleaner, a catering worker, a porter, a nurse, an auxiliary, a manager or somebody working in an area of medical records and all the others.

“All of us have benefited from the skill of what are called junior doctors.

“In reality they shouldn’t be called junior doctors – they are highly skilled people who have sown their commitment to our NHS.”

Mr Corbyn said the Health Secretary had “had every opportunity to negotiate an agreement for the junior doctors.”

He added: “They are the ones who have behaved in a responsible manner, to say they are here to defend the NHS.

“His response is to try and impose a contract on them.

“That is no way for a Secretary of State to behave towards one of the most crucial elements of the NHS workforce.

“Today we are here to show our support for them and our National Health Service and say to Jeremy Hunt, the NHS is absolutely safe in the hands of those who work in it – the junior doctors who work day in, day out to keep us all safe and healthy.

“It’s not safe in the hands of a government that is more interested in attacking those who work in the NHS, selling off its assets and destroying the very principles of our National Health Service.”

The Labour leader’s wholehearted support brought a decisive answer to Tory jeers over whether he would join a picket line.

Shadow Health Secretary Heidi Alexander yesterday said she would not join pickets because the public wanted to see her negotiating.

But Mr Corbyn made his feelings clear by joining the march with Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, who was also due to speak.

He was flanked by protesters whose placards included the message “Dodgy Dave – flogging your NHS to offshore tax haven mates.”

Source: Jeremy Corbyn joins junior doctors at Downing Street and slams Tories for ‘attacking the NHS’s core’ – Mirror Online

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One Comment

  1. Terry Davies April 27, 2016 at 6:55 am - Reply

    red tories are out of time and area campaigners should realise this when selecting canditates to put forward for council and MP elections.
    send red tories where they belong into obscurity.

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