Rob Delaney has hailed the NHS as “the pinnacle of human achievement” in a video supporting Labour ahead of the General Election.
In a clip shared by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on Twitter, the American actor and writer says he is “crazy” about the NHS.
He also commented on Boris Johnson’s “disastrous Brexit deal”, suggesting the “NHS as we know it will be gone” if the Conservatives win the December 12 election.
May I ask you to watch this short video I made about the NHS?pic.twitter.com/VNzKPYGgq2
— rob delaney (@robdelaney) November 23, 2019
The ghost of Christmas future
Delaney says: “I think one way that I could be useful to British voters is they could imagine me as a ghost of Christmas future, as someone who has experienced a private healthcare system in the United States, but who has also experienced the wonderful NHS here, which even in its underfunded state is still so vastly superior.
“You don’t want what I grew up with.
“Seventeen years ago I was in a car accident, and I got badly hurt and I had to have some surgeries. Under the American private healthcare system my insurance company, when I started to generate big bills because I had been in a car accident, they just dropped me, and I became responsible for tens of thousands of dollars in bills.
“And that was terrifying at the age of 25.”
Brain tumour
He tells of the “extraordinary care” his son Henry received when he was diagnosed with a brain tumour before he died in January last year.
Delaney goes on to warn the NHS “is going to be on the table” if “we leave the EU under the terms of Boris Johnson’s disastrous Brexit deal”, adding: “Donald Trump is going to give it to Donald Trump Jr and Eric and Ivanka and they’re going to divvy it up and sell it to private pharmaceutical companies, and the NHS as we know it will be gone.”
We will get Brexit done, invest in our NHS, schools and police, and cut taxes for you and your family. pic.twitter.com/h7SwMlXIpq
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) November 23, 2019
The TV star, who has previously endorsed Labour, continues: “That’s a massive reason I support Labour and I support Labour enthusiastically and proudly.
“I don’t view it as a choice between Tories and Labour, I mean the real choice in this election, the two sides, are the billionaires, the millionaires who work for billionaires and the newspaper owners, like what, four of them?
The billionaires, the millionaires
“That’s one side, and the other side is the rest of us, the people who use the NHS and depend on it, the disabled kid whose parents aren’t wealthy and depends on social care, that’s who this election is about.”
Mr Johnson was grilled on the NHS during the BBC’s Question Time on Friday, where he defended the investment in the service and said getting Brexit done is key to this. He said Brexit is “hanging over us”, and again deriding politicians for trying to frustrate the 2016 referendum decision.
He also tackled criticism that the party has not met its pledges on recruiting GPs, and said he wants more doctors and to inject additional funds into the NHS.
Related: Furious off-camera row breaks out between Dominic Raab and Andy McDonald