Another story that hasn’t received the coverage it deserves is the problems Jeremy Hunt is having with junior doctors, but with the first junior doctors’ strike scheduled for this Tuesday, that will change.  But people like David Cameron and George Osborne are aware of how important the NHS is, a few days ago, The Spectator reported that

Another area where Osborne is determined to keep putting in extra resources is the health service. He believes it was Cameron’s NHS commitment that was the most important and electorally significant element of Tory modernisation. The tensions between 10 and 11 Downing Street and Jeremy Hunt in recent weeks have been borne out of frustration that, despite the cash that the Tories are pumping in, they are still regularly waking up to headlines about the NHS being in crisis.

William Hill have a market up on whether Jeremy Hunt will remain Health Secretary until 2017. I’d probably take the 5/2 because Cameron has form for moving a cabinet minister that manages to upset a profession that is respected and trusted by the public, especially if it undoes the Conservative modernisation and detoxification strategy.

Michael Gove was moved from the Department of Education and replaced with the more emollient Nicky Morgan, after Gove had antagonised the teaching profession with Lynton Crosby warning Cameron that Gove was toxic for the Tories. The omens are not good for Jeremy Hunt continuing as Health Secretary for much longer. As Alastair Meeks noted a few weeks ago ‘It seems to me that Jeremy Hunt can lose quickly or he can lose slowly.’

TSE