The elephant in the room

By Harriet Yeo

At last it is clear that there is an enormous chasm between Labour and the Tories, and the elephant in the room has been exposed: the NHS.

Now David Cameron might be rather a nice chap but the rest of his niggardly cohort, bar one or two who should cross the floor (maybe even Mr Cameron should!?) would rather speedily disperse the far corners of the NHS to the grubby profit making realms of the private sector. Now I don’t have a problem with making money, I have to do it every day for the organisation I work for, but I do have a problem with making money out of sick people. It is the reverse of all that I hold dear in my political beliefs.

Gordon and the Number 10 press machine have been given a gift and it is up to them to use it wisely, just as it was the wise servant in the Bible (Matthew 25: 14-30), If they do, the British public will see clearly that it is a no brainer: vote Labour at the next election or lose the very thing that most if not all of them owe the lives of at least one member of their family to.

Now the Labour party is quite a disparate group, as indeed are the Tories. The difference is the very core of us; we may all disagree on the route taken, but our very essence is the destination: a society where all, despite their beginnings, can from their own labour and gifts bring about a fairer and more just society for themselves and their families.

We have heard in recent days just how wonderful the rabid right of US politics would have us believe the US is. Well, all those waivers should look at this article and then make up their minds about the NHS. For the money spent, we come out as top for value for money, better than the US despite their vast healthcare expenditure – and of course here everyone gets treatment, not so in the US.

Gordon, Number 10 press office, my challenge and my plea to you is this:

Let the British public – all of the British public, not only the Guardian/broadsheet reading public – understand what is really at stake at the next election: the NHS, and for a lot of people their life and health.

I say this not as a misty eyed distant admirer of the NHS, I lost my mother to a hospital-acquired infection that she should never have contracted let alone died of. I know the system has its failings but it is nothing that we can’t sort out. My mother trained as a nurse before the NHS and told me of the horrors that befell the poor, so I owe it to her – despite how it failed her – to fight for our NHS, and I beg you Gordon, do the same. And yes, I will be raising it at the next NEC.

Gordon its up to you now, and you can do it!