Boris binds himself to an NHS powered by love

Boris Johnson is out of hospital and resting at Chequers, the Prime Ministeral country residence. Thank goodness.

After being discharged from St Thomas’ hospital in London  he recorded a five minute message, tweeted out on video, that counts as one of the most remarkable pieces of political communication of the modern era.

This was both heartfelt and cleverly constructed, borrowing the Churchill style of delivery with an emphasis on short words, clear concepts and crisp delivery.

In sombre, moving tones, Boris thanked the NHS staff for saving his life.

We now learn that Boris came close to death in the last week, yet the briefing from the government when he was close to death suggested that he was in good spirits. Perhaps the instinct of officialdom was to avoid causing public alarm. Either way, from start to finish (and this is just the beginning of recuperation and full recovery) the seriousness of his condition was repeatedly underplayed.

The NHS will now get masses more spending paid out of much higher taxes. Anyone mentioning reform of the NHS – on the sensible Blairite basis that money should be made to go further to deliver more – will be wasting their time for the next decade or so.

One other notable aspect of this remarkable address was the emphasis Boris put on highlighting that many of those NHS staff who saved him are foreign nationals or immigrants. Restricting migration was always the Brexit message that Boris liked least. By nature he is cosmopolitan and  international – a liberal conservative.

He has tended to look embarrassed when the subject of immigration reduction comes up, presumably assuming in a very Boris way that something will be cobbled together eventually that means people still come here in similar numbers because Britain is an attractive country with a lot to offer. Ministers who want tougher restrictions take note. It – much lower immigration – won’t be happening, is the strong subtext of Johnson’s message on leaving hospital. He owes his life to the treatment he received  and he has bound himself and his premiership to defending the NHS.

Here’s the full transcript:

I have today left hospital after a week in which the NHS has saved my life, no question.

It’s hard to find the words to express my debt – but before I come to that I want to thank everyone in the entire UK for the effort and the sacrifice you have made and are making.

When the sun is out and the kids are at home; when the whole natural world seems at its loveliest and the outdoors is so inviting, I can only imagine how tough it has been to follow the rules on social distancing

I thank you because so many millions and millions of people across this country have been doing the right thing – millions going through the hardship of self-isolation – faithfully, patiently, with thought and care for others as well as for themselves.

I want you to know that this Easter Sunday I do believe that your efforts are worth it, and are daily proving their worth.

Because although we mourn every day those who are taken from us in such numbers, and though the struggle is by no means over, we are now making progress in this incredible national battle against coronavirus.

A fight we never picked against an enemy we still don’t entirely understand.

We are making progress in this national battle because the British public formed a human shield around this country’s greatest national asset – our National Health Service.

We understood and we decided that if together we could keep our NHS safe, if we could stop our NHS from being overwhelmed, then we could not be beaten, and this country would rise together and overcome this challenge, as we have overcome so many challenges in the past.

In the last seven days I have of course seen the pressure that the NHS is under.

I have seen the personal courage not just of the doctors and nurses but of everyone, the cleaners, the cooks, the health care workers of every description – physios, radiographers, pharmacists – who have kept coming to work, kept putting themselves in harm’s way, kept risking this deadly virus.

It is thanks to that courage, that devotion, that duty and that love that our NHS has been unbeatable.

I want to pay my own thanks to the utterly brilliant doctors, leaders in their fields, men and women but several of them for some reason called Nick, who took some crucial decisions a few days ago for which I will be grateful for the rest of my life.

I want to thank the many nurses, men and women, whose care has been so astonishing.

I am going to forget some names, so forgive me, but I want to thank Po Ling and Shannon and Emily and Angel and Connie and Becky and Rachael and Nicky and Ann.

And I hope they won’t mind if I mention in particular two nurses who stood by my bedside for 48 hours when things could have gone either way.

They are Jenny from New Zealand – Invercargill on the South Island to be exact – and Luis from Portugal – near Porto.

And the reason in the end my body did start to get enough oxygen was because for every second of the night they were watching and they were thinking and they were caring and making the interventions I needed.

So that is how I also know that across this country, 24 hours a day, for every second of every hour, there are hundreds of thousands of NHS staff who are acting with the same care and thought and precision as Jenny and Luis.

That is why we will defeat this coronavirus and defeat it together.

We will win because our NHS is the beating heart of this country. It is the best of this country. It is unconquerable. It is powered by love.

So thank you from me, and from all of us, to the NHS, and let’s remember to follow the rules on social distancing. Stay at home, protect our NHS – and save lives.

Thank you, and Happy Easter.

You can watch the statement in full here.