A day is a long time in politics – especially for Anne Milton, the Conservative MP for Guildford.
Ms Milton was hotly tipped to replace Jeremy Hunt as Secretary of State for Health – on Sunday.
There was just one slight problem – a possible conflict of interest. See, Ms Milton’s husband happens to be Dr Graham Henderson – a director of private health firm Virgin Healthcare.
See the problem? At a time when much of the public is convinced the Conservative Government is trying to privatise the National Health Service, it would be unwise, to say the least, to appoint a Health Secretary who is married to a health privateer.
Then, on Monday morning, this happened:
Anne Milton Wikipedia article edited anonymously from Houses of Parliament https://t.co/vcx1dXUhkm
— Parliament WikiEdits (@parliamentedits) January 8, 2018
You should be able to see the before/after differences by clicking on the images in the tweet below:
Which one is it? pic.twitter.com/XOWn7IknX0
— Dr Lauren Gavaghan (@DancingTheMind) January 8, 2018
Did Ms Milton apply the changes? Some clearly thought so:
You can fiddle your Wikipedia page all you like @AnneMilton – perhaps ask your husband if he can encourage Virgin Care to actually pay some tax.
— Rachael Swindon (@Rachael_Swindon) January 8, 2018
(This is a reference to reports that Virgin Healthcare has profiting hugely from its NHS contracts – while unfairly paying no Corporation Tax at all.)
Now, This Site would not be so rash as to suggest that Ms Milton edited her Wikipedia page in order to make herself more palatable as a candidate for the Health Secretary post – but somebody did.
And of course, Twitter had a few ideas about that:
Message for #Conservative central HQ… trying to remove footprints from the internet, wiki etc., etc., is a waste of time, ask #TobyYoung, you cannot get rid of their footprint the people have already copied and pasted all they need to know in this case her new health secretary
— Will Never Vote Labour Again **All Lives Matter** (@Isobel_waby) January 8, 2018
MRS MAY… please understand you cannot delete peoples history, #TobyYoung could of advised you about that, trying to delete the history of a woman and her other half because you want to employ her to destroy the NHS. is not on chuck, we are ahead of you.
— Will Never Vote Labour Again **All Lives Matter** (@Isobel_waby) January 8, 2018
And in the end, what was it for?
Jeremy Hunt refused to be moved, meaning it was impossible for Ms Milton to be named Health Secretary. She ended Monday in the same job she began it – as Minister of State for Skills and Apprenticeships.
And perhaps that is for the best.
After all, this is a woman who said people who were “large bottomed” should lose weight before sitting on train seats.
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