Daniel Hannan refused to apologise for branding the health service a "relic" in a US television interview – comments that forced David Cameron on to the back foot. Mr Hannan, in his blog on www.telegraph.co.uk, expanded on his views by claiming the "only foreign admirers of the NHS are those on the serious Left". As the growing row threatened to hand Mr Cameron his most serious policy problem for several months, Gordon Borwn waded in to accuse the Tories of being "two-faced" on the NHS and signalling he wanted to make health the number one issue in the forthcoming general election campaign. Mr Hannan's remarks in the US interview – which have seen him branded "eccentric" by Mr Cameron – have provided ammunition for Republicans who oppose moves by President Barack Obama to reform America's health care system. The MEP told Fox News that he "wouldn't wish [the NHS] on anyone". Mr Obama said yesterday that he was not looking to introduce into the US a taxpayer-based system similar to the NHS nor the one operating in Canada. "I'm not in favour of the Canadian system. I'm not in favour of a British system. That is not what (we) are working on. Let's find a uniquely American solution," the president said. His comments did nothing to quell the row in Britain, though, where ministers and Labour MPs have queued up to pour scorn on Mr Hannan and accuse the Tories of having a "deep ambivalence" towards the health service. Senior figures, including Mr Brown, have joined a campaign on Twitter called 'welovetheNHS'. Mr Hannan branded Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary as "fatuous" for accusing him of calling for Britain to adopt a US-style insurance-based system. He added: "There is a difference between saying that the US shouldn't adopt the British model and saying that Britain should adopt the American model. Think about it for a few seconds and you'll see that it is quite an obvious difference." The MEP, who represents South East England, said his preferred model was Singapore – where people can opt out of a state-run system and into health savings accounts, giving them more choice. He said: "Nor can it be repeated often enough that Singapore – like every developed country – pays for the healthcare of those citizens who can't afford it. "No-one I know wants a system where the poor go untended. Nor will you find such a system outside the Third World: it really isn't a British peculiarity. "After 10 years in the European Parliament, I have found that the only foreign admirers of the NHS are those on the serious Left." Mr Hannan also branded Tom Watson, a former Labour minister, "asinine" for levelling the charge that he should have made his criticisms in Britain and not in the US, claiming that he had written a book that included his views on the NHS – jointly with Douglas Carswell, the Tory MP – which had been largely ignored for 10 months. He added: "I do wonder at the tone and nature of the criticism. It seems to be based on playing the man and not the ball. "There are good and honourable people who support the NHS; and there are good and honourable people who don't. Is that really such an extreme thing to say?" Meanwhile, The Sunday Telegraph has learned that Mr Burnham and Lord Darzi, the outgoing health minister, will use a trip to Washington in November to launch a media offensive defending the NHS. "We will be setting the record straight," a source close to the Health Secretary said. Mr Carswell, the co-author with Mr Hannan of The Plan: 12 Months to Renew Britain, said he stood by "every word" of what was written. He added: "We looked at how to try to reform the NHS. I don't want to get drawn in beyond that." Asked if he was a supporter of the NHS Mr Carswell replied: "Yes." Mr Brown, in a letter backing the twitter campaign published on Labour's websire, said: "There are two Tory faces on the NHS...The Conservatives still put special interests before patients' interests. I will not stand by and see the NHS and its brilliant staff denigrated and undermined, whether that's by the right wing in the United States or by their friends in the British Conservative Party." In a clear reference to the coming election campaign, he added: "This is not just a debate for this week. It is central to everything we believe and care about. And I am determined to take the ffght to the Tories, not just today, but in the weeks and months ahead."Health row Tory Daniel Hannan: my critics are 'asinine'
The Conservative Euro-MP who sparked the row over the National Health Service last night hit back at his critics by branding them "fatuous" and "asinine."
Sunday, 16 August 2009
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