Shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, has been severely censured for making a joke about former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, and his alleged 'senility' in old age. Old age is inevitable for most of us, and will come to you Streeting, make no bones about that. But dementia - which is on the increase in Britain - should not be a subject for amusement.
The Shadow health secretary, who has been tipped as a future Labour leader, is in favour of a greater role for the private sector in providing healthcare within the NHS and in reducing waiting lists. Streeting, a Labour right winger, has links with private health providers. He took a £15,000 donation off the hedge fund dealer, John Armitage, who co-founded Egerton Capital. Armitage's fund, owns shares worth £834m in United Health, a vast U.S. private health corporation that has spent millions lobbying U S. politicians to further its own business interests. United Health, has played a key role in the 'Americanisation' of the NHS that began under Tony Blair and New Labour and has continued apace under the Tories.
Although Wes Streeting apologised for his comments, there have been calls for Sir Keir Starmer to sack him. Some people think that he's not a fit and proper person to be Shadow health secretary given his flippant attitude towards dementia and cognitive decline among the elderly.
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