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Thursday 11 February 2016

Jeremy Hunt Caught Fiddling

The hospital doctors’ dispute is not finished yet - but one of the main protagonists might well be, after it was revealed that Jeremy Hunt (the former Culture Secretary) had, if only by inference, been accused of sleight of hand with the letter he claimed had been signed by 20 NHS CEOs, and which effectively endorsed imposition of the pay deal, after talks between the Government and the BMA broke down.
Hunt made his claim, and soon afterwards, several of those CEOs let it be known that they did not support contract imposition. By this evening, nine of the 20 had so claimed. Then an intervention on Twitter by Andrew Foster, who is CEO of the Wrightlington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Trust, shone a bright light upon why there had been so many dissenters: someone had changed the text to which he had signed up.
The ball was set rolling by Emma Preston, who asked two direct and straightforward questions of the 20 CEOs: “Two basic q.s to all CEOs: 1)Did you support Dalton's offer? 2)Do you support the imposition? Surely no grey areas for them there”. Sanjay Sastry, a Welshman working abroad in Greater Manchester, tagged Foster and simply asked him “Your answer please?” It was the reply that set tongues wagging.
Foster simply said “1) Yes 2) No   Clear enough?” But the letter published on behalf of Hunt at least implied that the CEOs supported contract imposition. Sastry had another go: “Yes, thank you. Although raises serious questions re judgement. Were u naive to sign or r u changing your mind after event?” to which Foster replied unequivocally “The letter we supported was a different one to that published today”.
Clive Peedell put his own question to Foster: “Dear @andrewkfoster, If there's an exodus of junior docs resulting from contract imposition, will you consider resigning for supporting it?” Foster once again pointed out to him “I have not supported contract imposition. I have supported the view that the offer made is reasonable”.
Back to Clive Peedell: “This is what you supported in Dalton's letter. The implications are obvious. Hunt took his advice”. He appended the paragraph in question. Foster’s reply was, once again, unequivocal: “That is not the paragraph that I agreed to. I did not agree with imposition”. What is needed now, then, is for the wording to which Foster and the other 19 CEO signed up. And if it is different, there can be only one conclusion.
Should there be any significant difference in the wording, and if Foster is right in his (repeated) assertion that he did not support imposition - that there are at least another eight CEOs making the same claims suggests he is not alone - then either Hunt, or someone under his control, has changed the wording. That is not merely unforgivable: it is a resigning offence. And if Hunt is found to be bang to rights, and declines to do the right thing, then Young Dave should step in and sack the SOB.

Jeremy Hunt gives every appearance of being a liar and a cheat. That’s not good enough.

8 comments:

Shawlrat said...

Nothing would surprise me coming from that shyster. He demeans his office. He won't resign. Where's Dave?

Voice of Moderation said...

Where's Dave!
Where's Lee Harvey Oswald?

rob said...

Resign? Depends on whether Dave Head Boy still regards him as a firewall over the BSkyB fiasco. As one of The Headmaster's monitors he would have to be put up somewhere else and necessitate another reshuffle. So not quite so easy as say sacking, sorry moving, spivvy Shapps to a place in the corner.

As for being a liar and a cheat - you forget he's in good company @Houses of Parliament.org. And with our biased media who will support their chosen agenda drivers, it gets more and more difficult to sort out the wheat from the chaff.

Lloydy.53 said...

It's the 'Lucy Allen theory of political advantageous editing'. I expect we'll see more of it.

Anonymous said...

So Hunt lied AGAIN.

Just like his fellow Bullingdon pigs heads on the tory front bench.

Government by lies and spivvery. Same old tories.

Tough luck for a decent society though.

Unknown said...

Well, what do you say about people like Hunt....he lies and he cheats. He's playing havoc with the public's health. How can anyone trust a Health Secretary like him. I am so pleased that Clive Peedell and others have caught Hunt out. He should resign NOW.

Rivo said...

I noticed on Twitter earlier a tweet by @drhamedkhan upping the number of CEO's disowning Hunt's letter to 14, one of whom, Robert Woolley of UHBFT allegedly didn't even see the statement to which his name was appended as he was on leave this week and his name was added by the COO Deborah Lee.

I have seen other claims that the alleged signatories were given a rather short 4hr time window in which to "opt out" of signing the statement, after which time support would be assumed...

Hunt is a shit, and worse, a cowardly shit - a recent party function he was due to attend has been cancelled after it became known that several junior doctors were planning to visit and ask him some rather pointed questions.
In a previous age, this kind of behaviour would require the offending party to do the honourable thing. However the current movers and shakers in the Tory party have been shown time and again to lack even a basic shred of honour and decency.

rob said...

@ Rivo

"the current movers and shakers in the Tory party have been shown time and again to lack even a basic shred of honour and decency."

Exactly. I don't suppose even (the hide behind trees weasel) Jeremiah would have acted as he has without the support of his colleagues in the Cabinet especially those known agenda drivers.

And of course he has the full backing of Toby Young without whom............