A Party of Doctors?

It was revealed in the Independent on Sunday that a coalition of 250 doctors would challenge Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs at the next election. It’s certainly a way to attract attention to the strength of opposition to the health bill, but could it actually work?

Nobody doubts that there are two key areas on which the public decide who to vote for in the UK; the economy and the NHS. Indeed there are other factors such as foreign policy and the personal character of politicians but nothing even compares to the strength of feeling people have for the NHS or the economy. So doctors campaigning would be at a natural advantage as people would trust them with the NHS, but what about other areas? Would the coalition of doctors be socially conservative or liberal? What about foreign policy, or the economy? A seat in parliament won’t be won if you only have policy on the NHS, the doctors would need to formulate some sort of policy in other areas to make them a credible candidate.

                                                

Likely any doctor standing would still do quite well as the NHS is the closest thing to a national religion in this country. Targeting Liberal Democrats could be their best option, many Lib Dems feel let down by the coalition and are unsure of who to vote for in the next election. Many of these voters that the Nick Clegg has alienated don’t like Labour or the Tories, so a doctor might be a perfect candidate for these voters.

It is possible that another significant party may be accidently started because of this. In the 19^th century, when Ireland still sent MPs to Westminster, the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) began as a loose assortment of MPs under Isaac Butt. The MPs weren’t united on any issue other than Home Rule (hence the party was originally the “Home Rule Party”, but in 1880 Charles Stewart Parnell transformed the Home Rule Party into a proper, modern political party. The party subsequently came to dominate Irish politics for the next 40 years. Could this happen with a doctor party? It’s not impossible, but a lot of work would have to be done to get it to work.