What Price Bevan?

When the suggestion first came up in a cabinet meeting that the government ought to collect half the price of dentures and eyeglasses from the beneficiaries, at a saving of -L-25 million a year, Nye Bevan shouted: "I am worth more than -L-25 million to the Labor Party."

But he wasn't. Last week the bill providing for the denture and eyeglass charges went before the House of Commons. Bevan's followers fought it hard. When Tories criticized the National Health Service for being so extravagant as to provide free treatment even for foreigners in Britain, Bevan indignantly cited a 14th Century monk who "was captured by Barbary pirates and taken to Arabia as a prisoner. He fell sick, was in the hospital for six months, and was treated entirely free . . . The infidels of Arabia were more Christian than the Tory party ..."

The House of Commons nevertheless voted for the government bill (but decided to keep free medical treatment for foreigners). It was a precarious vote. Bevan and 30 of his followers abstained; three Labor left-wingers voted against the government. The Tories in a body voted for the government.

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