PISSING OFF THE BRITS

The wingers have spent a lot of time ragging on Britain's National Health Service and the Brits are starting to push back. The WSJ reports that the Prime Minister AND the opposition leader both had something to say:

That has brought a fierce response from many corners of the U.K., where the U.S. health-care debate suddenly threatens to become a local political issue. Prime Minister Gordon Brown and opposition leader David Cameron each have interrupted their summer holidays to weigh in.

Mr. Brown and his wife, Sarah, rushed to defend the institution, known as the NHS, in posts on social-media site Twitter.

Mr. Cameron, meanwhile, spoke in favor of the NHS partly as an act of damage control, after a member of his own Conservative Party made harsh criticisms of U.K. health care on U.S. television.

The member of the Consaervative Party Mr. Cameron is referring to is Daniel Hannan, a member of the European Parliament from Britain. Hannan has been on Hannity's radio show a number of times to spew lies about NHS and socialized medicine and in doing so, he's pissed off the leaders of his own party, according to the conservative newspaper The Telegraph:

Daniel Hannan rebuked by Conservative leadership for attacking NHS
Daniel Hannan, the Conservative MEP, has been rebuked by his party leadership for endorsing American criticisms of the National Health Service.
By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent
Published: 5:03PM BST 13 Aug 2009

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, said Mr Hannan was wrong in his criticism of the NHS. Andrew Lansley, the Conservative shadow health secretary, accused the MEP of presenting a “negative and partial” view of the NHS in his contribution to the US debate about health care.

The Conservative Party spent Friday distancing itself from Mr. Hannan, who is seen as a right-wing maverick in the party. Mr. Cameron went before television cameras and dismissed Mr. Hannan's views as "eccentric" and said his party "stands foursquare behind the NHS."