THE HEAD of the militant doctors’ union which has launched the most disruptive strikes in NHS history lives in a £1.4m country pile in a beauty spot, the Sun on Sunday can reveal.
Professor Philip Banfield is chair of council at the militant British Medical Association which oversaw junior doctors and consultants walking out together for the first time this week.
Health chiefs warn a staggering 100,000 NHS operations and appointments were postponed due to the latest action as doctors demand a 35 per cent pay rise.
Obstetrician Prof Banfield has told Rishi Sunak that doctors will continue industrial action unless a “credible offer” is made and warned they are ready to strike “into and beyond the next general election”.
He has attacked the government for seeking to “destroy the NHS” and claims ministers made a “conscious political decision” to underfund the NHS and staff.
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During one interview he even compared a junior doctors’ salary to how much he pays his cleaner.
Now this newspaper can reveal the comfy lifestyle the union bigwig enjoys in a £1.4m seven-bed house in an idyllic corner of Wales.
His secluded home, which looks like converted farm buildings, has views of hills and, in the distance, the Irish Sea.
Locals enjoy horse riding and walking, with one commenting: “It’s a beautiful peaceful spot - on a sunny day just perfect for being outside.
“You can’t be on the breadline to live in some of the houses here.”
Prof Banfield’s predecessor was on a whopping remuneration package of £203,633, although the BMA say he receives significantly less than this.
A Brexit critic, Prof Banfield recently praised Labour’s shadow health Secretary Wes Streeting and is slated to take part in a panel at the party’s annual conference in Liverpool next month.
It comes as government insiders warn that the BMA is being taken over by a group trying to destabilise the Tories.
One source said that while Prof Banfield seemed “reasonable” in negotiations he was beholden to the radical junior doctors.
A cabal of leftwing doctors have won elections to key roles on the BMA’s ruling council and the junior doctors committee.
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“These strikes are political - they want to try to bring down the government,” one government insider said.
“That is why they are digging in.
“It is not just about getting higher pay, they want a Labour government in No10.”
Another added: “It’s obvious the next round of strikes are timed to coincide with the Tory Party conference and not Labour or the Lib Dems.”
At the forefront of the militant junior doctors’ campaign are co-chairs Dr Robert Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi.
Dr Laurenson owns a £500k flat with no mortgage and has accused Mr Sunak of hating Britain.
BMA bigwigs also include deputy chair of the BMA Council Dr Emma Runswick who has embraced the label “militant” and is a former activist with Momentum – the campaign group which previously helped install Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader.
Runswick has described organising doctors as an “opening for socialist politics”.
Others on the BMA’s council include Dr Jo Sutton-Klein who describes the doctors’ dispute as a “hugely important ideological political moment”.
Dr Becky Acres, chair of the BMA’s East Midlands regional council, has written on social media that Mr Sunak had “too much melanin for the racist Tory party”, described the Tories as “almost genocidal” and claimed extremists and fascists are trying to wrest control of our institutions.
Paul Bristow, Tory MP for Peterborough, said: “Claims that these strikes aren’t political collapse only after a tiny amount of scrutiny.
“Unfortunately the previously much respected BMA has been taken over by militants you would normally expect to see running a left wing student union.
“They don’t represent everyday doctors and are letting them down, and potentially costing lives, by ideologically sticking to a ludicrous 35 per cent pay demand.”
One Labour MP added: “The BMA had been bumbling along fairly well meaning and they’ve been easily taken over by a bunch of Trots.”
Earlier this week Health Secretary Stephen Barclay claimed some union leaders have even blocked patients from getting care during the strike action.
The BMA hit back saying this was “deeply disingenuous”.
The BMA said: “Instead of regurgitating cheap personal attacks on members who are working hard to represent their colleagues, fighting to retain doctors and safeguard the NHS, the media’s focus should be on holding the Government to account, asking why it is prolonging the current strikes by burying its head in the sand and refusing to meet with us.
“Our door is open.”
Both consultant and junior doctors will strike together again on October 2, 3 and 4.