Zarah Sultana reminds us ‘the NHS isn’t safe’ with Sajid Javid as health secretary

Sajid Javid has started as health secretary, leading to concerns about future privatisation of the NHS.

Javid was hired as a senior advisor to US bank JP Morgan last year after resigning as chancellor.

JP Morgan has stated it has an interest in the ‘opportunities’ that the healthcare industry represents.

The new Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, earns £150k as an advisor to US bank JP Morgan.

JP Morgan say they "see the opportunities that lie ahead" for private healthcare.

The ultimate "opportunity" for private healthcare is NHS privatisation.

The NHS isn't safe with the Tories.

— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) June 27, 2021

Javid is now stepping down from JP Morgan, but people are still raising concerns about his policies and the future of the NHS.

Investment banking career

On 26 June, it was announced that Javid would take over as health secretary after Matt Hancock resigned. The resignation came after Hancock was exposed for kissing aide Gina Coladangelo.

Since joining JP Morgan in August 2020, Javid had been earning over £150k for 80-96 hours of work a year.

And prior to becoming an MP, he had already been successful as an investment banker. Before leaving in 2009 to pursue his political career, reports say he was earning £3m at Deutsche Bank.

While at the bank, Javid held a role selling collateralised debt obligations (CDOs): financial instruments that were a leading cause of the 2008 financial crash.

John McDonnell questioned Javid’s appointment as chancellor in 2019 on this basis, as well saying he should answer questions about involvement with tax avoidance schemes.

Matt Hancock resigns and Sajid Javid is the new Health Secretary.
Javid was hired as a paid adviser to JP Morgan last year.
JP Morgan are a major player in private healthcare. Join the dots.
His appointment as Health Secretary is bad news all around for the NHS.

— Adam S.Business Owner, Vintner, 3.5% #BLOCKOUT2024 (@Adam_SH69) June 27, 2021

Free market

Moreover, Javid is a strong proponent of the free market. In April last year, he argued that free market policies were the only way to recover from coronavirus (Covid-19).

In The Times, he wrote:

Interventions that are helpful in a crisis can quickly become the best way of ensuring that we never recover.

A free enterprise economy is the only way of creating jobs and wealth, and properly funding the public services we all rely on.

Sajid Javid is perhaps the most extreme free market rightwingers in parliament bar none, with close ties to the US. Putting him in charge of the NHS clearly flags up what is coming next.

— David__Osland (@David__Osland) June 27, 2021

Sajid Javid is a throwback Thatcherite who will try every way to privatise as much of the NHS as he can get away with.

— Alex Nunns (@alexnunns) June 26, 2021

NHS privatisation fears

Matt Hancock announced reforms to the NHS earlier this year, aimed at ‘reducing bureaucracy, integrating care, and improving accountability’.

However, academics and campaigners criticised the proposed reforms, saying they could open the door to more NHS privatisation.

Campaign group We Own It said the bill could lead to more deregulation of the market and allow private companies to sit on integrated care boards.

Anyone congratulating Javid on his appointment clearly doesn’t value the NHS. The man has been brought in to finish the job of privatisation by selling the NHS to American corporations.

— Howard Beckett (@BeckettUnite) June 27, 2021

An uncertain future

Javid has previously voted against limiting NHS income from private patients, and for removing the cap on how much trusts could earn from private charges.

It’s too early to say how Javid’s appointment will affect the NHS. However, the combination of his party’s proposed reforms and his own free market advocacy spells an ominous future for our healthcare system.

Featured image via Wikimedia Commons/SLaMNHSFT & Wikimedia Commons/UK Parliament