The row over Donald Trump’s assertion the NHS is “broke” has had one consequence that a few people are feeling very uneasy about – they’re agreeing with Jeremy Hunt.
The Health Secretary hit back at the President’s claim – apparently informed entirely by a Nigel Farage segment on Fox News this morning – and launched a passionate defence of the UK’s health service.
Cue much confusion, soul-searching and cognitive dissonance.
Hunt was responding to a Trump tweet sent earlier on Monday that came just minutes after Nigel Farage appeared on Fox News and blamed immigrants for the pressures on the NHS.
Discussing NHS funding protests in the UK over the weekend, Farage said: “Well the problem we’ve got is a population crisis caused by government policy on immigration.
“The problem is we haven’t got enough hospitals, we haven’t got enough doctors, we haven’t got enough facilities.”
Trump, well-known for essentially live-tweeting cable news without context, praised Fox News for “exposing the truth”.
Unfortunately for Trump and Farage the organisers of the march immediately came out to set the record straight.
Addressing the President directly, the People’s Assembly Against Austerity and Health Campaigns Together, said: “Unfortunately, our current government have been persuaded to increasingly adopt policies which represent those of your Government, they have decided to move us more to an American-style system which is widely acknowledged to be one of the most expensive, inefficient and unjust healthcare systems in the world.
“This is what our demonstration was about on Saturday 3rd Feb and tens of thousands of British people want to show their love for the principles of universal and comprehensive care free at the point of use, paid for through general taxation.”
There were however those who despite the circumstances, couldn’t quite get over their animosity toward Hunt.