What you permit,you promote

In his editorial on the Francis report, ¹ Halligan makes effective use of famous quotes to illustrate his argument. In seeking to promote the importance of accountability in leadership, he relies upon the words of the Rt. Hon Leo Amery to Neville Chamberlain in the famous Norway debate in Parliament in 1940, which led to the collapse of the then Conservative Government. This in turn paved the way for a national coalition under Winston Churchill. However, it is surely as important to be precise about these matters as when quoting original scientific research. It was precisely because his words were first uttered by Oliver Cromwell in 1653 in an impassioned speech to a parliament that had voted to dissolve but would not stand down, that Amery’s speech was understood by all and so devastating in effect, as acknowledged later by Churchill himself. ²

Halligan also drew on the wisdom of Martin Luther King, a man who understood the power of language every bit as much as Churchill. I believe Halligan might have found these words of King to even better reflect the likely consequences to the medical profession of the Mid Staffordshire disaster: ‘We shall have to repent in this generation, not for the hateful actions of the bad, but for the appalling silence of the good’.