You Scratch My Back, I'll F*ck You In The *ss

It's another health care post, but this time perhaps its a lesson in why bi-partisanship can't work nowadays.

British MP Daniel Hannon helped out his American Conservative brethren:

A Kent Conservative Euro MP has sparked an international war of words after saying he would not wish the NHS on any country.

He claimed people in America get much better treatment.

Daniel Hannan made his comments during a television interview in America, which he is visiting. Plans by President Obama to shake-up the health care system in the USA have sparked a major political row there.

Oddly, perhaps because the death panels there are inefficient and allow too many Britains to live, there has been what they call con-TROV-ersy.

Health Secretary Andy Burnham has even accused Mr Hannan of being "unpatriotic" for daring to "slag off" a British national institution in the "foreign media".

Former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has recorded a video message to the American people defending the NHS and accusing Mr Hannan of "misrepresentation".

But the MEP's comments have also touched a raw nerve with the Tory leadership, who have done so much in recent years to portray the party as a true friend of the NHS.

Conservative leader David Cameron has had to go into full damage limitation mode - dismissing Mr Hannan as a man with "eccentric views about some things".

And it's lead to Tories publically endorsing the unthinkable to retain their popularity.

The Tory leader refused to comment directly on a report in The Guardian that ministerial pay could be cut by up to 25% under a Tory administration.

But he told the BBC ministers would have to "take a lead" in bringing down the overall cost of government.

So looka that! You offer those American Republican scorpions a ride on your back across the river, and they just sting you; as you both sink to your doom they shrug and say "What did you expect, man? I'm a scorpion." Ask Tony Blair about this some time. He was pals with Clinton and the nation loved him, then he was pals with Bush and nowadays he can't leave the house without a Popemobile.