Last winter my NHS colleagues and I saw patients suffocating alone. The government has stuck two fingers up to them
As I type this, feeling close to tears, not one single minister has been willing to publicly defend – or even describe – the government’s position on that party. Why? Because it is indefensible. No nuance, no shade. As black and white as life and death itself. If any elected representative was present at such a tawdry party, they should resign. They know it; we know it. Only the grubbiest travesty of “public service” would prevent them from doing the right thing. Although I note that as of this afternoon, Boris Johnson and his ministers were continuing to insist that no such party had taken place.
“The top priority is making sure lives are saved,” Matt Hancock (ever one to make personal capital from a global pandemic) said on the morning news. Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Hancock said he couldn’t possibly comment on the apparent rule-breaking because he had been rather busy at the time saving lives. Sorrywhatpardon? Yes – yes – this is the same Matt Hancock who saw fit to kiss his aide Gina Coladangelo in the middle of the afternoon in the Department of Health when he was meant to be focusing on pandemic management. It’s enough to make a doctor such as myself retch.
Rachel Clarke is a palliative care doctor and the author of Breathtaking: Inside the NHS in a Time of Pandemic.
