Johnny Vegas’s passionate NHS speech resurfaces as health service celebrates 75 years

Comedian Johnny Vegas - of PG Tips and Benidorm fame - made a “heartfelt” speech on the NHS back in June 2018, which has now resurfaced online as the health service marks its 75th birthday.

In comments made during an episode of the Channel 4 talk show The Last Leg, shared by The London Economic on Wednesday, Vegas compared the NHS and private healthcare by saying “it’s like buying you a tricycle and then buying your brother a brand new Mercedes”.

“It’s private healthcare versus us. They [the Conservatives] don’t care – they never have.

“They want to privatise it, they can’t make money off of it. I get really upset on this one so I don’t want to go mad on live TV – it really offends me.

“It’s given me years with my parents – not all of them years happy, you know what I mean? My mum can nag,” he joked.

The actor went on to add that while the NHS has “ostensibly given us years of valuable life”, Tory MPs “pretend to care about it” and it’s “always a PR release”.

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He continued: “It will always be something to keep us quietly happy until they can get rid, and it genuinely upsets me to see those moments of ‘we’re doing this’. You’re not doing it, you’re doing nothing.

“The people who work within it work so hard. The patience they have, the care that they give…

“I understand there’s issues this week that have come out … about other people’s families and how they’ve been treated, but personally, all I can say is: if you don’t fight for the NHS, we lose ourselves as a country.”

Well said – even fellow guest and comedian Roisin Conaty could be heard saying “I agree” at the end of it.

And she’s not the only one, as Twitter users have also associated themselves with Vegas’s remarks:

As for Rishi Sunak’s comments on the NHS’s birthday, which Vegas may consider a “PR release” as well, the prime minister shared a number of stories from NHS workers on Twitter and wrote the health service “is all about the staff who run it”.

“What struck me about these NHS workers when I met them was their passion for looking after us when we need them most. Their stories are special because they represent the values of so many of our NHS workers.

“To all of you, on behalf of a grateful nation – I say thank you,” he said.

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