I imagine in the US he would be given an award for opposing "socialist" health care!
Cheers, Ken Hanly 'We don't use the NHS' business chief is sacked BCC acts fast to distance itself from director general's Budget outburst Julia Finch, City editor Saturday April 20, 2002 The Guardian The director general of one of Britain's top business groups has been sacked after launching an assault on Gordon Brown's Budget plan to make businesses pay towards upgrading the health service. David Lennan, head of the British Chambers of Commerce, was fired after a BCC board meeting on Thursday afternoon. The board decision to remove him from the job was unanimous. Yesterday the BCC said Mr Lennan had been told to go because he was overseeing the modernisation of the organisation and there was concern that changes were not being made fast enough. However it was also clear that the organisation was not happy with a statement issued by Mr Lennan after the chancellor sat down on Wednesday afternoon. The statement focused on the new, higher national insurance charges businesses will face to help pay for health service improvements. In a press release to represent the views of the membership, Mr Lennan said: "Employers do not draw on the national health service and should not be asked to pay for its improvements". A second statement, issued a couple of hours later, went on to praise the chancellor for other aspects of his Budget plans. Yesterday the BCC - which represents 135,000 business members ranging from small start-ups to regional branches of multinational organisations - refused to support Mr Lennan's Budget reaction. A spokesman said only that health was not a BCC "priority", but added: "Of course there is a role for business to play." The BCC's president, Anthony Goldstone, would not comment on whether he was embarrassed by Mr Lennan's press release. He said: "I think business has a responsibility as part of the community. I believe that the NHS should be open to everyone; it needs to be properly funded and we have to pay for it". He added: "Business has to have an appreciation of life outside business". Mr Lennan joined the BCC last July after a long career at NatWest Bank and a spell as corporate development director at Surrey county council. At the BCC he was at the head of 2,500 staff in 100 locations. A source within the BCC said he was "a charming man" who was widely liked. The BCC's official spokesman said: "he was good at his job" - which was to "refocus, refine and improve the service to members and enhance the group's influence on government". The timing of yesterday's announcement also raised eyebrows. Mr Lennan was due to front the BCC's annual conference next week - at which one of the first speakers will be the chancellor, followed by trade secretary Patricia Hewitt. The two-day get-together also includes speeches by education secretary Estelle Morris, local government minister Nick Raynsford, e-commerce minister Douglas Alexander, minister of state for international trade and investment Baroness Symons and home secretary David Blunkett. The BCC said the timing of Mr Lennan's removal was not connected to the Budget or the conference. Its spokesman said: "Government ministers aren't coming because of Mr Lennan, they are coming because of the audience of business people." He said the BCC was "bigger than Mr Lennan". The ousted director general, who was paid more than �100,000 a year, expressed shock at his removal. In a BBC interview he said: "There was a board meeting, and I was totally shocked to find I had lost my job at the end of it." Mr Lennan explained that his departure was a result of discussions about the changes facing the organisation, but he also said: "I have no reasons as to why this has happened."
