London — As expected, Britain’s new prime minister, Liz Truss, has announced a major cabinet reshuffle. Steve Barclay, Boris Johnson’s health secretary, has been replaced with Truss’s close ally Therese Coffey, whom she has also named deputy prime minister. Combining these roles has the symbolic value of underscoring one of Truss’s main priorities: the National Health Service.
This is one of the toughest jobs in government. Coffey is the third health secretary to be appointed in three months after Sajid Javid resigned in July. The NHS is facing terrible problems. The Office for National Statistics has recorded “excess” (non-Covid) mortality of around 1,000 deaths a week in England in Wales. There is also a glaring staff shortage, with 132,000 vacancies, 6.7 million patients waiting for routine care, and the looming possibility of doctors and nurses going on strike.
Coffey has a political reputation as a workhorse. She has outlined an “ABCD mantra,” referring to a focus on reforming ambulances, backlogs, care, doctors, and dentistry and is expected to unveil an emergency plan for the NHS next week. However, when it comes to medical ethics — she is seen as a controversial figure. Coffey has been criticized for her opposition to abortion and assisted dying and is suspected by those critics of being influenced by her Catholic faith. Following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Coffey told Sky News, “I don’t wear my religion on my sleeve but it’s undoubtedly part of who I am . . . I would prefer that people didn’t have abortions, but I’m not going to condemn people who do.”
That such a mild anti-abortion statement — voiced by a conservative, no less — is enough to shock people reflects the sorry state of pro-life politics in the United Kingdom.