Top Tory MP defects to Labour in fury at NHS crisis
Top Tory MP defects to Labour in fury at NHS crisis
Ex-health minister Dan Poulter who also works as a hospital doctor, says Conservatives have become ‘nationalist party of the right’
Ex-health minister Dan Poulter who also works as a hospital doctor, says Conservatives have become ‘nationalist party of the right’
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Become?
As much as I disliked Cameron's government at the time, I don't think it was close to the levels of nationalism and right-wing ideals we see from today's Conservative party. I rarely agreed with their approach, but I could at least understand that there were genuinely good-faith Tory MPs back then who simply had a different approach to things than what I would have wanted to see. Maybe they were just better at hiding it, but they did feel less sleazy and corrupt, and more like they actually wanted to work towards changing things for the better rather than just tearing everything down and lining their own pockets.
If this was 2017 I'd be inclined to agree. But this guy looked at Johnson and thought he was suitable, and stayed as the wheels fell off. He continued with Truss as the cart exploded, and didn't think about jumping off.
But now?
Well, if he's had some sort of damascene conversion then good for him, but you might as well call me Thomas cos I'm fucking sceptical.
Well, if he's had some sort of damascene conversion then good for him, but you might as well call me Thomas cos I'm fucking sceptical.
He realised that £90k is one heck of a drug and wants that ride to never stop!
I don't think it's that, considering he's standing down at the next election anyway:
He said he would not seek re-election to the House of Commons at the next general election. But, writing in the Observer, he says he envisages a role advising the Labour party on its policies on mental health while focusing more on his NHS work.
Whether that advisory role would be paid or not, I don't know, but it certainly wouldn't be to the tune of £90K!
Interesting 🤔. Thanks for the clarification.
Out of interest do the Labour party publish stats on how much they pay advisors? Or might they do that when in government since he'll be a government advisor at that stage? If assume an advisor is on a pretty decent wedge.
I'd assume we'd have to wait until he was an actual government advisor before we got any figures (if at all). And yeah, advisors can do pretty well for themselves, although how much they get paid depends on how involved they are. Advisory roles can range from full-time consulting roles and helping with policy creation to "hey, can you just spend a couple of hours reading through these documents and give us your thoughts?" once every few months.
You can see the pay for the government's special advisors (ie, the top tier of advisors) here if you're interested. Bear in mind those are in the top, top tier of advisors so most aren't necessarily going to be paid that much.
That's a lot of money on SPADs! And also of note, zero diversity in that list 😔.
It certainly is a lot, although it's the sort of thing where, when you really think about it, you'd kinda hope it's something the government is willing to spend money on. You don't want all the best and brightest just going to private companies because they can earn 3x as much as the government is willing to pay. (Whether the current SPADs are the best and brightest, I don't know... If they are, it's certainly not reflected in the government's decision-making! But I think the point still stands that there needs to be a financial motivation for talented people to work in government rather than private businesses.)
Yeah, the diversity looks pretty bad...
Maybe the ghosts of general elections past, present, and future came to visit him. I too find it extremely odd that only now has he decided to switch parties.
The only reason the brexit vote happened at all was because Cameron needed to keep the right wing lunatics on side. So it is safe to say they've been hanging around in the party for a while, only Cameron successfully kept them down for the most part, whereas May failed, Johnson encouraged them, Truss was one of them, and Sunak is just pathetic and gives into everyone.
Yep. You know it’s bad when you say “Cameron wasn’t that bad”, I also share your views.