NHS chaos chief tells the PM: You can’t sack me...
JEREMY Hunt has defied Theresa May’s bid to move him from Health Secretary in a reshuffle labelled “embarrassing”.
JEREMY Hunt has defied the Prime Minister to remain Health Secretary, despite overseeing a failing NHS.
It is understood Theresa May wanted him to move across to run the Business Department, but he refused.
In another blow to the PM’s attempt to cling to power, Business Secretary Greg Clark also refused to budge during yesterday’s Cabinet reshuffle.
One senior Tory MP blasted Mrs May’s “embarrassing” shake-up, adding: “Far from asserting her authority, it’s highlighted how weak the PM is.” Mr Hunt expanded his brief with new title Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.
This is despite some four million people being on waiting lists for NHS treatment, and Mr Hunt failing to hit the four-hour A&E waiting target since 2015.
He has repeatedly vowed to boost GP numbers, yet the total figure dropped by 1,200 in the past year. The NHS also faces a shortage of 3,500 midwives, and more than 6,000 nurses went on long-term sick leave in 2016/17 with stress.
A Downing Street source told the Mirror that social care would shift from the Cabinet Office to the newly named Department of Health and Social Care.
But Shadow Health Secretary Jon Ashworth said: “Did Theresa May not realise social care was already supposed to be a responsibility of the Health Secretary?”
Lib Dem Chief Whip Alistair Carmichael said: “This kind of gimmick is no substitute for finding a long-term solution to the crisis facing the NHS and
social care.” Mrs May faced further embarrassment as Justine Greening quit over a demotion from Education to Work and Pensions Secretary.
The PM admitted she was “disappointed” by the decision, while Mr Hunt had to backtrack after “liking” a tweet announcing her departure.
He tweeted: “Like button pressed by accident. Justine was an excellent minister and will be a great loss.”
Despite Mrs May’s vows to refresh her top team, most senior ministers kept the same jobs, including bungling Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
Brexit Secretary David Davis, Home Secretary Amber Rudd, Chancellor Philip Hammond, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox and Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson stay put.
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, Environment Secretary Michael Gove and International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt also remain.
Sajid Javid has kept his job as Communities Secretary, though in a renamed Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called the reshuffle a “pointless PR exercise”. He told a Parliamentary Labour Party meeting: “In 2018, the impact of Tory austerity is hitting home with the public, most tragically with the most serious NHS winter crisis yet.
“And yet the Government’s big plan for the New Year is to dodge the real issues and reshuffle the pack in a pointless and lacklustre PR exercise.”
Lib Dem Mr Carmichael said: “This reshuffle can be summed up with the phrase ‘nothing has changed’.
“We still have a hapless PM and an incompetent Government.”
He added: “Theresa May… has come out of this looking weaker than ever.”
Meanwhile women’s groups blasted the decision to make Maria Caulfield the Tory vice chair for women. She has spoken against decriminalising abortion. Sophie Walker, Women’s Equality Party leader, said the MP could “never advocate effectively” for women.
Former Justice Secretary David Lidington replaced sacked Damian Green as Cabinet Office minister.
Ex-Culture Secretary Karen Bradley took over as Northern Ireland Secretary after James Brokenshire resigned due to ill health, and Brandon Lewis became Conservative Party chairman with James Cleverly as his deputy.
Ministers refusing to budge and an appointment posted and taken down after 27 seconds was farcical even by her own absurd standards.
The shake-up that was intended to bolster her position instead stressed how wobbly it remains, as she was forced to leave the big posts untouched and then back down on other changes – with the likes of Jeremy Hunt still squatting in Whitehall departments.
What does the Health Secretary need to do to be moved, when thousands are stuck in ambulances and told ops are cancelled?
By prioritising changes to the Tory machine she’s putting party before country and the public is a distant second behind her desperate bid to cling to high office, if not power, at any cost.