Paddy McGuinness praised for Question Time debut mocking Boris Johnson and Brexit | indy100

Paddy McGuinness calls out Tory MP over state of NHS

BBC Question Time

Paddy McGuinness, the comedian and former presenter of shows such as Top Gear and Take Me Out, made his first appearance on the BBC debate programme Question Time on Thursday, and while some raised eyebrows at the Beeb’s decision to book the TV personality, many have celebrated his takedown of the Tory government.

Starting off his first contribution by disclaiming that “most people know I’m not here for my great political brain”, he quickly pointed out that “that didn’t stop Boris Johnson”, which was greeted by laughter and applause from the audience.

As the panel discussed Labour abandoning its £28 billion pledge on green policies, McGuinness said: “James, you saying to Wes [Streeting] that Keir Starmer is saying anything to get a vote, is a bit rich coming from a Tory, let me tell you. We’re still waiting on the £350 million a week that Boris Johnson promised us.”

After Conservative and Bury North MP James Daly responded to the comedian to say “it’s here” and that the government were putting in another “46.5 billion over the next three years”, McGuinness fired back with a simple question: “Why is the NHS on its knees, if it’s here?

“Why are they going on strike, nurses and doctors, if it’s here? Where is it?”

Later in the programme, when the conversation turned to the crisis in NHS dentistry, McGuinness revealed his father removed his own teeth because he couldn’t get a dentist appointment, and shared what he knew about units of dental activity, or UDAs.

“But as someone as a child who was terrified of going to the dentist, I’ve got to congratulate the government because they’ve managed to get people queueing up for them!

“So if you’re an NHS dentist, you’ll get X amount of these UDAs – so let’s say it’s 10,000. So, someone will come in for a scale and polish, that’s one UDA, someone will come in for a filling, that’s 12. Someone, a crown, that’s 20.

“Now, that NHS dentist has to use up these UDAs, and if they don’t use them up, they’ll get penalised, and if they go above the UDA, they’ll get penalised again! So they’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.

“You don’t want to be going to a dentist who’s doing target-based care, as opposed to care-based care,” he said, with a dentist in the audience nodding along with McGuinness’ description of the issue.

McGuinness has since received widespread praise for his contributions, including from the British Dental Association:

Who is this Paddy McGuinness?\nHe seems rather common, northern & Linekerist.\nHe\u2019s certainly a bloody comedian!\ud83d\ude21\nSo it was nice to see the veteran Conservative Radio 1 DJ John Peel put him in place on last night\u2019s #bbcqt & tell him Brexit has indeed given the NHS \u00a3350m a week!\n\ud83d\udc4d
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Paddy McGuinness, "James Daly you saying to Wes Streeting that Keir Starmer will say anything to get a vote, is a bit rich coming from a Tory"\n\n"Where's there \u00a3350 million a week for the NHS?"\n\n"What Keir Starmer said today, I admire him for doing it now, rather than when he gets\u2026
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Lots of tweets on how good Paddy McGuinness was on #bbcqt. But what about how utterly dejected Cons James Daly MP looked throughout? If I were a floating voter, I wouldn\u2019t be feeling inspired to vote Tory if this is how it makes him feel.
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Fiona Bruce \u201cIt\u2019s your debut on the programme\u201d\n\nPaddy McGuinness\ud83d\udde3\ufe0f Firstly\u2026this is very daunting, terrifying . Lucky for me, most people know I\u2019m not here for my great political brain.\n\nBut that didn\u2019t stop Boris Johnson..so \ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02 #BBCQT
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Thank you @PaddyMcGuinness.\n\nYou really didn\u2019t get it wrong.\n\nYou captured the absurdity of a system that\u2019s fuelling a crisis hurting millions.\n\nThe PM promised to \u2018restore\u2019 NHS dentistry. \n\nWe\u2019re still waiting\u2026\n\nSIGN & SHARE this petition to Rishi Sunak. https://t.co/2FfPt0VagG
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Don't watch Question Time, but not surprised Paddy McGuinness did well. His dad lived in sheltered council housing across from my (very ill) sister, and Paddy used to help out, send her cards, etc. He's a good egg - and someone who knows what it's like to have next to nowt.
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Is Paddy McGuinness a National Treasure yet?
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My God - I never would have had Paddy McGuinness down for so effectively holding the Tories to account on #bbcqt \n\nIf they gave him Kuenssberg\u2019s show I\u2019d actually watch it
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Paddy McGuinness sells himself short by saying he's not on #bbcqt for his "great political brain." He's absolutely running rings around Tory MP James Daly.
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Who\u2019d have had Paddy McGuinness on their bingo card of holding the Tory to account on QT better than anyone else on the panel.
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Rather than an Office of Budget Responsibility, we need a Department of Paddy McGuinness, issuing periodic pronouncements on political stupidity.
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Can we do a whole series with Paddy McGuinness on the absurdities of different public sector funding formulas and targets? \n\nCall it "Paddy's Perverse Incentives".
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Hopefully his first appearance on Question Time won’t be his last.

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