And on the subject of Daniel Hannan

John Prescott has fisked his reply to the ex deputy minister's You Tube attack om his anti NHS sentiments on American television.

You can read the whole thing at Labour List but here is a taster

"Prescott is trying to fabricate a row out of my interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, in which I warned Americans against adopting a socialist healthcare system along British lines. You can watch the old bruiser here. (If you're an American who likes to imagine that the British are eloquent, please ignore that last hyperlink.)"

Fabricate a row? Describing the NHS as a "60 year mistake" and responsible for making people "iller" gave me a legitimate reason to question you. And your book The Plan gives me cause for even greater concern. You say you want to "allow patients to opt out of the NHS and instead pay their contributions into individual health accounts". Sounds like you want to follow the US model of personal health insurance just as they're trying to follow our system!

Three reasons why the Tories haven't got it right

Jim Pickard makes a very good point over at his Westminster blog citing three reasons why the Cameron message may not have got through to the outer echolons of his party.

One has already been noted on this blog,Daniel Hannan's undefending of the NHS but Jim picks two more

1.Edward Garnier, shadow justice minister, is out and about trying to repeal the Hunting Act of 2004. Again, the Conservative leadership claim this is a one-man campaign and fox-hunting will not feature in the manifesto. Yet the issue is Old Conservative. Raising it at this point in the electoral cycle is a mistake.

2.George Osborne’s claim on Monday that the three-year pay deals for nurses, teachers and police could be re-opened. This is dangerous territory. Sure, there is public concern about the bloated state. People don’t like chief executives of local authorities making £200,000 a year, true. And there is envy about superior pensions in the public sector.

The rise and rise of Dan Hannan

Despite his views on the NHS not sitting comfortbaly with the Tory leadership,Paul Waugh has been given a tip off that the Conservative MEP will be speaking at the party's spring conference.

Dan will be on the platform making a speech about the Lisbon Treaty and the EU.
He will not be expected to go off piste to expand on the health service, an insider tells me.

Hannan takes to the air again

Tory MEP Daniel Hannan whose splendid reposte at Gordon Browm in Strasbourg features here in another You Tube video,this time displaying his right wing values as he tells the audience in America that they shouldn't make the same mistake as us and nationalise the health service.



Ht-Recess Monkey

Gordon is made to cringe in Strasborg

It is not very often that someone gets to confront the Prime Minister in this way.

MEP Daniel Hannan takes Gordon to task over his management of the economy,the imagery to boats gouing into squalls is brilliant