Now that Boris Johnson has finally realised the value of the NHS, he can focus on repaying his debt to it

Lionising frontline troops when they are needed and dismissing them after the emergency passes is as old as warfare itself. The prime minister would be wise not to let that continue, writes Matthew Norman

The Tories took the unflinching devotion of nurses for granted (AFP/Getty)

Boris Johnson says he owes the NHS his life, but does he have any plans to repay the debt? With the prime minister recovering well, the respectful niceties want replacing with fact.

A series of Conservative administrations, beginning in 2010 with the cynical savagery euphemised as austerity, have desecrated the institution Nigel Lawson called the country’s one and only true religion.

The Tories picked a ridiculous fight with the junior doctors. They effectively cut pay by capping public sector rises to a sub-inflationary one per cent. They took the unflinching devotion of nurses for granted. Now they betray their fundamental duty of care on a scale to stagger even those who identify smug incompetence as the calling card of the British state for decades.