The NHS and US-UK Trade: Spinning the Revelations

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-50699168

On the one hand I'm a little baffled by the 'breaking' nature of this story because there were hints of this a couple of years ago. The Brexit vote was in June of 2016 and Trump of course won the election in November of that year. There were rumours of NHS privatisation in the air coming from Tory circles, even during Cameron's tenure, and then it seems to me about 2018 there was a kerfuffle over Trump suggesting that a US-UK trade deal would require opening up the NHS to US investment and a degree of privatisation.

Well, apparently due to Corbyn's utilisation of these leaks, it's a big story again. But what's interesting is the media response.

I suppose the quantity and perhaps even quality of the leaked info has changed but it's a hardly a new story. But somehow the story is all about Russia and UK security. The content of the documents is being set aside in order to focus on Moscow. This is a classic case of media spin.

Please note that the story is also being framed as a means to cast Corbyn in a bad light.... he dared to use documents leaked from the Russians. In other words, he has no discernment. Of course others (a minority) will say the scandal is a negative mark against Johnson and his refusal to be transparent with regard to the negotiations.

Russia is accused of causing mischief. Hmmm, it seems to me that the UK has generated enough internal instability and polarity on its own. As with the Clinton email leaks, the media seems determined to make this rather significant story... a story about something else.

Of course there's another angle to this story that I'm sure British politicians don't want to talk about... Johnson especially. And that is the UK's diminished status. Corbyn of course knows this and is playing both sides of the fence trying to leave open the possibility of undoing Brexit by means of another vote. Johnson has staked his political future on Brexit and yet the reality is that Britain will be (more than ever) beholden to and dependent upon Washington. A deal will help the British economy and will give Britain additional clout in negotiating news deals with the EU and other entities.

And yet there's a price. America, or at least the Trump Administration (and undoubtedly some elements within the Wall Street sphere) want to 'cash in' so to speak, exploit the UK's disadvantage and want more leverage vis-à-vis the UK economy and the massive economic infrastructure that is the NHS. While these same forces don't want to see such a system develop in the United States, from an investment perspective it's a simple and streamlined system that would be easy to tap into. They can smell the profits... but it's going to translate into some pain for the British public.

Outlets like the BBC will talk about issues like this to a point and yet I'm left wondering if its leaders aren't in a bit of a conundrum. I don't get the impression there are a lot of Johnson fans at the Beeb and yet Corbyn is absolutely despised by the British Establishment. He has caved on most of the highly controversial points and yet he's too much of a wild card. They don't want him, and it would seem (as dicey and iffy as it is), they want to use this leak story to paint Corbyn in a bad light.

It may take a generation for British politics to recover from this ongoing mess. I have to believe the public trust is at its absolute nadir. What this does for the Evangelical project in the UK is still an open question. They may seek to capitalise on this moment of domestic political instability but depending on how the public perceives their role... it may blow up in their face.