Matthew Hancock posed as an ordinary volunteer wanting to ‘stop all the negative stuff’ about Stafford Hospital. But he is part of the governing clique.

The Slog has unearthed yet more black PR in the Stafford Hospital scandal. It is more reminiscent of Nixon dirty tricks than NHS reality.

In this week’s Staffordshire local paper The Newsletter is this heartwarming piece:

‘”We Support the Frontline Staff at Stafford Hospital” has been set up by Matthew Hancock who says people are ‘sick’ of negative reports about the hospital where hundreds died needlessly between January 2005 and March 2009.
The group was formed following the publication last week of the Francis report into failings at the hospital. Members are planning a march to show their support for staff who they say are caring and work hard. The group is part of a growing backlash against negative comments.’

There’s just one small hole in the ‘public backlash’ line: Matthew Hancock is employed by Staffordshire local government, via a ‘cover’ organisation called Signposts. According to the Signposts website the organisation is

‘….funded and supported by a partnership which includes Signposts (Stafford) Ltd, Staffordshire County Council, Stafford Borough Council, South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, South Staffordshire Primary Care Trust & Staffordshire Police….’

Well then, there’s a turn-up. Council, NHS, Primary Care Trust and the cops. Bit of an omission from the story there about private citizen Hancock. Matthew lists himself on Facebook as a ‘follower of Christ’, and good for him. Just remember next time Matt to bear full, not false, witness when talking to the press corps.

We would all do well to watch out more and more for this kind of propaganda. All creeping States and creepy bureaucrats see the local media as simply receptacles for their Black Arts.

The truth is that there is only one backlash in Stafford: the one demanding that corruption, perversion of justice and ‘internal investigation’ cover-ups come to an end.

(Thanks are due to Zoompad for doing the initial digging on this one.)