14th September 2025.
‘I was the anaesthetic consultant on call at St. Thomas’ Hospital yesterday. It is on the south side of the bridge that these racists marched over for 5 hours, right under the windows of the hospital, chanting their hateful, vitriolic, violent slogans.
It was not lost on me that in our emergency handover meeting of around 15 people at 8am, I was one of only two white British members of staff. The NHS would collapse without the remarkable work that colleagues who are immigrants and the children of immigrants do.
This “protest” was not peaceful, as we know. Many broke through what were pretty puny barriers to get into the hospital grounds. Security (all non-white and being incredibly measured) had to fend them off at the main entrance. No police. No other help. Lots of very scared non-British workers inside the building. Lots of the staff on duty with me were really scared about getting home safely. Many booked rooms in the nurses’ accommodation overnight because they didn’t dare leave. I drove several to nearby stations to avoid what was, by 5pm, an intimidating, abusive, drunken rabble.
Our chief executive sent a weak email on Thursday saying, effectively, everyone is valued in our hospital. She was nowhere to be seen on Saturday.
Colleagues and I are going to write to her to say that the Trust’s response before and on the day was wholly inadequate, but I also think NHS leaders and the government need to denounce the overtly racist elements of the march (i.e., most of it) and publicly support non-British NHS workers. They must stop equivocating for fear of offending a group of the electorate that they foolishly think might vote for them and take a damn stand. They are leaving a vacuum for the radical right; either fight or step aside and let someone else try to save the soul of the country.
I was shocked to see lots of families with their teens proudly marching. People need to get involved and counter this appalling rhetoric. It’s completely disgusting. We need to try to understand why they believe the far right’s lies, counter those lies, and offer a genuine alternative for ordinary people; otherwise, we will be in the US’s shoes with Farage at the helm. I will do whatever I can to help in this cause, but it is urgent. Labour are not doing anything effective. Those groups/parties planning to provide an alternative need to get their A’s into G and start campaigning loudly. Farage spent the summer holding weekly press conferences while the government went on holiday.
I felt embarrassed to call myself British in front of my incredibly brave but distressed colleagues yesterday. I’d welcome everyone’s view about the most useful steps that I and others who are equally appalled by yesterday and the rise of the far right here can most usefully do to fight back.’
If you are ever likely to get ill, don’t vote for Reform UK.
