Health staff see through two-faced Cameron

Health workers' unions have hammered "two-faced" Conservative leader David Cameron for claiming to support the NHS while allowing fellow Tories to rubbish the health service.
Firing the first shot of the general election campaign by launching the Tories' health manifesto, the millionaire Etonian shamelessly accused Labour of failing to tackle health inequalities between rich and poor.
Ignoring two decades of Thatcherite attacks on the NHS, Mr Cameron proclaimed that such inequalities "are as wide in 21st century Britain as they were in Victorian times.
"This is one of the most unjust, unfair and frankly shocking things about life in Britain today," he declared.
He insisted that the Conservatives' sudden heartfelt concern for the poorest would see a Tory government pour cash into maternity services in the deprived areas to "banish" inequality.
"Today, the Conservatives are the party of the NHS."
NHS workers' union leaders greeted the claim with incredulity, pointing out that, despite the Tory leader's "posing," voters' memories of the Conservative government's attacks on the health service were still vivid.
Unite assistant general secretary Gail Cartmail emphasised that "the Tories face two ways on the NHS," and highlighted how Mr Cameron was "offering warm words, while influential Tories like Daniel Hannan would like to dismantle the NHS for the benefit of private health-care companies."
Ms Cartmail explained that the MEP was still "touring American TV studios saying that he wouldn't wish the NHS on anybody and that it is 'a 60-year-old mistake,' which is an affront to the hard-working staff and the thousands of people who would not be alive today, but for the NHS.
"Thirty years ago, Thatcher promised that the NHS was safe in her hands, and what followed was a massive starvation of funds that was only reversed when the Labour government came to power," she added.
Health workers' union Unison leader Dave Prentis also lost no time in demolishing Mr Cameron's claim to be a candidate of "change.
"It is a bit rich to see the Tories steal a slogan from the Obama campaign when the likes of Hannan publicly attack the NHS.
"The Tories' track record is one of allowing our hospitals to crumble, of tax breaks for the rich and letting the free market ruin people's lives - that shows the true Tory thinking, but with Cameron, it's all style and no substance."
Mr Prentis was convinced that "the public won't be fooled by Cameron's posing, because they know that it is not about what you say, but about what you do."

Story by Paul Haste in The Morning Star.