Those of you who follow Health Policy Insight on Twitter (@HPIAndyCowper) will be familiar with our tireless campaign for #SimonBurns4SOS.

......................................................................

Click here for details of 'The meat raffle and the King Of Skiffle - Does Your Health Bill Lose Its Flavour On The Bedpost Overnight?', the new issue of subscription-based Health Policy Intelligence.

......................................................................

Recently, I have heard suggestions that the campaign was perhaps losing a little impetus, and so during a long motorway drive, this campaign song was born.

The Simon Burns Campaign Song
(to the tune of ‘This Old Man’)

Inspired by ‘All Gall’, by Flanders and Swann.

Simon Burns for Number One.
Lansley’s toast; time to have fun!
With a Cognac, Armagnac, Beaujolais and Beaune,
Simon Burns ascends the throne.

Simon’s been Number Two;
Now in charge: a lot to do
With a Bill to sell that no-one seems to want.
Change the title and the font!

Simon Burns holds all three
Red lines of the Blue Party
Which thinks competition rules are what we need
To make those trades unions bleed!

Simon Burns and his four
Ministers will all deplore
Labour’s shadowy misreadings of the Bill;
Such health games make Simon ill.

Simon Burns’s senses five
(Some of which are still alive,
Though the fags have done for Simon’s sense of smell)
Will aid this modern Machiavel.

Simon Burns, six and seven,
When in doubt, just yells “Nye Bevan!”
Now political cross-dressing’s all the rage,
Simon’s on a different page.

Simon Burns, like Henry Eight,
Seals the old religion’s fate.
Disestablish the NHS like the monasteries:
Clear the dead wood; sod the trees!

Revolution Number Nine:
Simon’s in charge; I feel fine.
And now no-one at Westminster thinks he’s dim
Since Obama talked to him.

Simon Burns for Number 10?
Milk and honey would flow then!
With a Cognac, Armagnac, Beaujolais and Beaune,
Simon Burns ascends the throne.

UPDATE: We are honoured to note that his local paper, The Essex Chronicle, known online as This Is Total Essex highlighted our campaign in this article. Onwards and upwards!