Humanities desk
< October 10	<< Sep \| October \| Nov >>	October 12 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Humanities Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

October 11

"I stuffed their mouths with gold" - Bevan and the consultants

Aneurin Bevan is often quoted as saying "I stuffed their mouths with gold" about his handling of the hospital consultants during the negotiations over their position in the NHS. Both the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations and John Campbell's Nye Bevan: A Biography cite this to Abel-Smith, Brian (1964). "29". The Hospitals 1800-1048. p. 480. Abel-Smith has Bevan making the remark to a friend. It does not appear in Foot, Michael (1973). Aneurin Bevan: A Biography. Vol. 2. London: Davis-Poynter. ISBN 0706700899. Do we know who the friend was, and do we have anything earlier than 1964 which we can cite? Thank you, DuncanHill (talk) 12:21, 11 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Anyone have access to Tudor Hart, Julian (November 24, 1973). "Bevan and the Doctors". The Lancet.? Apparently "choked their mouths with gold" based on authors personal communication with Abel-Smith.

...well, ...Bevan (in his own phrase) "choked their mouths with gold",⁴ with 4. Abel-Smith, B. Personal communication. Not much help.

@Fiveby: While you were updating here I was getting the article from WP:RX - yes, that's all it says about it. DuncanHill (talk) 15:20, 11 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

There is a note on "stuffing their mouths with gold" in Charles Webster (ed.) Aneurin Bevan on the National Health Service, Research Publications No. X, University of Oxford Wellcome Unit for the Study of Medicine (1991) pp 219-22 ISBN 0-906844-09-6. This book consists of speeches and writings by Aneurin Bevan. The British Library holds a copy in its General Reference Collection at St Pancras (shelfmark YC.1992.a.490). 2A00:23C4:570A:600:51E7:BA3B:CE68:D670 (talk) 12:03, 12 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks 2A00 - I couldn't find a copy either online or in a library near me but I have found one for sale on a well-known website and have ordered it. DuncanHill (talk) 21:45, 12 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

In his A New Kind of Doctor, Merlin Press, 1988, Julian Tudor Hart has Bevan “confessing to Brian Abel-Smith that he ‘choked their mouths will gold’” (p. 66). He references D.S. Murray Why a National Health Service? The Part Played by the Socialist Medical Association, Pemberton Books, 1971, as “full of useful material not available elsewhere” and G. Forsyth, Doctors and State Medicine: a Study of the British National Health Service, Pitman Medical, 1973 on the “early politcs of the NHS.” Hope this helps. Almanacer (talk) 10:24, 13 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Almanacer: Many thanks, DuncanHill (talk) 15:23, 15 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]