I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Islington, North (Jeremy Corbyn) on securing the debate. The issue is extremely important. The local Labour group of councillors has an online petition. I will not go through all the comments on that petition, but they are extremely moving and show how much loved the Whittington hospital is.
I had my life saved by the Whittington hospital. I remember arriving at A and E, standing at a desk and weeping on the woman at the desk. I had gone yellow, my eyes had gone strange and I was having problems breathing. I had, it seems, gallstones that were messing up my liver and my pancreas. If I had left it any longer, I would not be here today. I love the Whittington and there is a strong reason for that.
If there is any chance that anyone is seriously thinking about closing the Whittington A and E, they will have a fight on their hands, certainly from my hon. Friend and myself and the huge amount of support that we are already garnering in Islington and, I strongly suspect, across other boroughs that use the Whittington. I was speaking earlier today to the Minister for Higher Education and Intellectual Property, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tottenham (Mr. Lammy). There was some confusion about when the debate would begin, but he was intending to sit on the Back Benches and look like thunder. I know that he feels as strongly as I do.
