Like most aristocratic families the Tory Party seem to send all their embarrassing offspring abroad and so it is that Dan Dan the Essex Man was whisked off to Strasbourg in order not to embarrass the Parents. But they forgot about the power of the internet and so it was that a 3 minute rant by Hannan hit "You Tube" and got a million hits after being featured stateside on Stations such as "FOX News" Fox news have him down as the next PM of Britain and his oration in Brussels did deserve some praise for bluster if not for it's content.His attempts at blaming Brown for all the worlds ills would have had more clout if he had been correct in his comments about the PM overseeing an huge and unprecedented debt crisis forgetting that national debt in 1956, after five years of Tory government, was roughly twice what is now predicted to be. Harold Macmillan, then chancellor, quoted the Victorian historian Lord Macaulay: “At every stage in the growth of that debt the nation has set up the same cry of anguish and despair . . . Yet still the debt kept on growing; and still bankruptcy and ruin were as remote as ever.” But facts, weren't going to stand in Dan's way he was on a roll.
And so it was that his internet success (despite the mistakes including suggesting that the government had renationalised the car industry) went to his head a little too quickly and led to him coming back for more, and his second attempt at Stateside fame had him telling FOX News and the american public that the NHS was a "mistake" that "made people iller".
Asked why he had warned Americans in the past not to adopt the NHS model of healthcare, Hannan replied: "Because you're our friends and if you see a friend about to make a terrible mistake you try and warn him. We have lived through this mistake. We have lived through this mistake for 60 years now."
He added "It began with the best of intentions. It began because people thought it was wrong for those who were not well off ... to be treated differently ... But the reality is it hasn't worked. It's made people iller. We spend a lot of money and we get very bad results. You look at survival rates for cancer or for heart disease, we are well down on all the leagues."
Why bother with the truth when a lie travels so fast around the websphere?
To see his full rant click below.
David Cameron is however shy in coming forward and telling us how Mr Hannans view squares with his own when he says "the NHS is a number one priority for us. The Conservative party is fully supportive of a healthcare system that is free for all who need it."
For more Hannanisms I am grateful to my friend at the Mirror Kevin Maguire who informed us of Hannan's exploits in deepest darkest (and very hot) Peru where our Dan suffered from heatstroke one summer while visiting his family. Kevin's informant recalled that the anti- European insisted on always wearing a tie and full three-piece suit in the baking sun. When asked why, Hannan replied: "We have to show the natives that Englishmen aren't afraid of a bit of weather..."
Hurrah for Blighty old boy, you tell them!
Finally the New Statesman (although a shadow of it's former self I am afraid) at least identified how very odd and how very wrong Mr Hannan and his views can be when they tell us:
"Hannan is a fool. For proof, read a Spectator article he wrote in 2004 (unearthed by the Fabian Society’s Sunder Katwala) praising the “economic miracle” in Iceland. “Icelanders,” he wrote, “. . . have no more desire to submit to international than to national regulation. That attitude has made them the happiest, freest and wealthiest people on earth.”
At a time when the sensible classes need proof positive of how unchanged the Tory Party really are despite their best attempt to dress themselves in others clothes, we are truly grateful to Daniel Hannan for standing up proud and true for the real values of Conservatism in 2009.
Give the man more air time I say...................................
No comments:
Post a Comment