Blair An NHS Radical? His Ideas Don't Go Far Enough

"Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer made a pilgrimage to Westminster Abbey yesterday morning to leave offerings at the shrine of the NHS.

- JOHN RENTOUL

They cannot afford to say anything against the national religion for fear of losing votes come the election.

But behind this public show of orthodoxy, heretical ideas are gaining ground. On Tuesday, Sajid Javid, who resigned as health secretary a year ago yesterday, argued that the health service needs “fundamental” change. Yesterday, Tony Blair said it needs to be “transformed”.

Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, has said that just as “only Nixon could go to China”, only Labour could reform the NHS, implying that this would involve overthrowing the old orthodoxy. It was notable, though, that Steve Barclay, the current health secretary, shied away from the language of revolutionary change, saying instead that “the NHS must evolve”.

One person who should be listened to in any debate about the future of the NHS is the prime minister who made it work. For a few years at the end of the Labour government, waiting lists were right down and patient satisfaction was at a record high.

So Blair’s plan should be taken seriously. Part of it is familiar, and it catches the headlines: a greater role for the private sector. This is still heresy against the orthodoxy that was worshipped at Westminster Abbey, but the crisis in the NHS is now so deep that we may be approaching a turning point.