Editorial Friday 5 October 2012: Huntism - The Times, they are for changing

The whole Times interview with The Bellflinger, Jeremy Hunt, is now online, and hopefully outside the paywall.

It is really quite special.

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Click here for details of 'Lansleyshambles - game over, as Jeremy ‘Bellflnger’ Hunt does the reconfiguration hokey-cokey', the new issue of subscription-based Health Policy Intelligence.

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He tells Rachel Sylvester and Alice Thompson that "the whole Leveson thing was very challenging. It was like being accused of a murder that you didn’t commit".

Brilliant. The new Health Secretary thinks he's The Fugitive.

He talks about the NHS too. No, honestly. Not just about his views on abortion, of which we already knew.

"Like the Olympics, the NHS represents the best of what it is to be British. The fact that we had the big letters ‘NHS’ open to the sky during the Opening Ceremony was an incredibly strong message to the world".

Mmmm. That must be why he had tried to get Danny Boyle to drop the NHS section. Which was revealed by Rachel Sylvester - one of the two interviewers.

He also says, "“For me, the NHS is one of the things that represents social progress and we are most proud of. People on the centre Right take it very seriously. We believe in opportunity for everyone . . . If everyone is to reach for the stars, huge chunks of the population can’t be put out of action”.

The NHS is a safe in our hands
Hunt adds, "The NHS has been incredibly safe in this Government’s hands. The number of hospitals acquiring infections has gone down. The waiting-time targets have been met. Breastfeeding targets are going in the right direction. The NHS is in very good shape ... There is always controversy when you want to change something that matters to people, but even among the opponents of change there is a recognition that the Government cares about the NHS”.

Mmmm. Maybe he should have a look at the British Social Attitudes survey and the last NHS staff survey, or the latest Kings Fund finance directors' survey.

Or MORI's latest opinion polling on who has the best health policies.

Although it may make for rather uncomfortable reading for Mr Hunt.

There is a possibility that people may perceive Mr Hunt's stated views as being incompatible with being the Secretary Of State For Health. This could affect his longevity in post.

That would of course be a sadness for him, and before we had even got properly acquainted - and thus a sadness for us too.

But to look on the bright side, what's that song I can hear?