The truth is out.
Anybody who suspected the junior doctors’ holier-than-thou attitude to their massively disruptive row with did not ring true today discovers they were on to something.
A huge trove of private WhatsApp messages leaked to the Health Service Journal has hoisted the members of the British Medical Association’s Junior Doctors Committee by their own petard.
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The group – who masterminded the dispute with Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt – talked about striking as much as possible to pressure the government, with seemingly no regard to the patients put at risk.
"it's not about pay"… "why won't the government just sit down and negotiate?" https://t.co/VbO8cxZZVh
— Rory Meakin (@rorymeakin) May 26, 2016
Practically salivating at the chaos it would cause, committee chair
Johann Malawana wrote: “The more I think about it the more I love our plan. Basically five weeks of headlines about juniors strikes through January and February.”
He later proposes using industrial action to tie the Government “in knots for the next 16-18 months” and “draw this right out” into debates on the EU and a potential Tory leadership contest.
Exlusive: Leaked WhatsApp messages reveal BMA plan to 'draw out' #juniorcontract dispute https://t.co/CMB3elg3ka pic.twitter.com/msktRMhpgC
— Shaun Lintern (@ShaunLintern) May 26, 2016
Meanwhile, the BMA publicly insisted that a quick resolution was possible if the Government played ball, and that strikes were a last-ditch act of desperation.
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He simultaneously encouraged colleagues to not bother engaging properly with Government negotiators, and that they only need to “play the political game of looking reasonable”.
Some of this is extraordinary: https://t.co/af0qEH4Uo0
— Ross Hawkins (@rosschawkins) May 26, 2016
The canard that the strikes were about public safety – rather than money – also evaporates in the face of the messages.
One describes getting more cash on Saturdays as “the only real red line”, while making explicit a plan to get £700 million in taxpayers’ cash for its members.
In an apposite and unguarded moment, Dr Malawana wrote: “I don’t care about anything apart from extracting the best contract. Don’t give a shit about anything else.”
Heat Street contacted the BMA for comment, who claimed the private messages were just some guys letting off steam.
A spokesman said: “These conversations go back over six months and reflect the anger and frustration felt by junior doctors across the country due to the government’s refusal to listen to their concerns.
“Private discussions should not be mistaken for the agreed strategy of the BMA Junior Doctors Committee, which was communicated publicly.”
