Tony Benn categorises politicians as either signposts or weather cocks. It is an interesting analogy, and doesn't simply mean signposts never change their minds; they do; but only after serious thought and reasoned debate. Weather cocks change their mind after the results of a focus group, opinion poll or what the leader in The Sun has to say.
Bearing this in mind, does David Cameron's pledge to increase spending in real terms in the NHS sound like a reasoned policy decision or knee-jerk reaction to Daniel Hannan's comments about our system of healthcare. I fear it is the latter.
Whatever your views are on the NHS (and mine are free for everyone to read), surely the one thing that unites us is we need the NHS to provide not only excellent care, but deliver value for money too. This should be the case no matter what the prevailing economic circumstances are. Those who wax lyrical of the virtues of the NHS must surely accept that if less money was wasted, more operations, etc., could take place. Why then does David Cameron not pledge to cut out waste in the NHS and then sell the policy to the voters? Nearly every household in the land is trying to cut out waste in their household budgets. Surely it is a vote winner to see the government in waiting pledging to do the same in one of the most wasteful public institutions we have?
It is issues like this that will make or break Cameron. He must show courage and be a true fiscal conservative.
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