A clip of a young Boris Johnson calling for the break up of the “monolithic” and “monopolistic” NHS has been doing the rounds on social media today.
Speaking in Parliament in 2002, when he was the MP for Henley, he said that government should examine “the experience of other countries that have a far better record of health care provision … because they do not rely exclusively on a top-down monopolistic health service of the kind we have in this country.”
Johnson was also critical of Labour’s decision to remove tax breaks for private healthcare, saying “people are being driven to use private medicine in despair at the NHS.
“There should be no shame in pointing that out.”
The Prime Minister called the NHS “unconquerable” after he experienced first-hand how it was dealing with the coronavirus pandemic back in April.
In a video posted on Twitter shortly after he was discharged the PM said the “NHS has saved my life, no question”.
Later he and Carrie Symonds named their newborn son Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson in a tribute to their grandfathers and the doctors who helped save his life.
Ms Symonds wrote in her Instagram post: “Thank you so, so much to the incredible NHS maternity team at UCLH that looked after us so well. I couldn’t be happier. My heart is full.”
Related: Let’s start with PM lying in Parliament, hardly news now & more of a ritual
