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Six months ago Mr Britnell told a conference of private healthcare executives: “In future, the NHS will be a state insurance provider not a state deliverer", and that “The NHS will be shown no mercy and the best time to take advantage of this will be in the next couple of years."

These words, playing to his home crowd in the world of big business, tell us all we need to know about this man and his views on the NHS.

Could he tell us how this extraction in profits of billions of pounds of tax payers money from the NHS by global health corporations will lead to lower health care costs?

If the NHS is inefficient could he explain why the UK *still* spends less than the OECD average on health care even with big increases in funding in the last few years?

Could he explain why, despite this, we have the best end of life care in the world, the best heart surgery outcomes in Europe, one of the most equitable and accessible health systems in the developed world, the fastest improving cancer outcomes, MI survival rates set to equal or exceed those of France if current trends continue (although we have spent billions less per year for decades) and lower administration costs than comparable countries?

No, because this would mean a departure from vague clever-sounding management speak and involve engaging with objective facts and evidence in the actual real world.