The NHS needs a health secretary who will be radical about reform

Editorial: It is an extraordinary thing that Victoria Atkins, with the vast bureaucracy and wealth of data and expertise at her command, is doing a worse job of sketching out a vision for the future of health and social care than her Labour counterpart

Victoria Atkins, the health secretary, somehow managed to turn what should have been a mildly encouraging piece of news for the government into a debacle (PA)

Like being the water purity press officer for Thames Water or compliance manager for GB News, a Conservative health secretary is very usually on a hiding to nothing – or to turn to another, still more obvious cliche, invariably presented with a compulsory “hospital pass” with no exemption clause.

Victoria Atkins is only the latest to be wheeled out to defend the indefensible, and it is fair to say that she is proving worse at the task than most of her predecessors. Although, had Therese Coffey, Liz Truss’s eccentric pick for the high-profile role, lasted for more than a few weeks she’d probably have mined the very nadirs of public respect even more determinedly than Ms Atkins.

Try as she might, on the morning media round Ms Atkins somehow managed to turn what should have been a mildly encouraging piece of news for the government, which is that National Health Service waiting lists are edging down again, into a bit of a debacle.