No pushover Labour may rue missed chance to find BMA chief a seat

If things had turned out differently, Tom Dolphin would now be a Labour MP, sitting on the backbenches and supporting the health secretary, Wes Streeting.

- Denis Campbell

If things had turned out differently, Tom Dolphin would now be a Labour MP, sitting on the backbenches and supporting the health secretary, Wes Streeting. Instead he is the newly elected chair of the British Medical Association, the UK's main doctors' union. Its almost 55,000 resident doctor members in England gave the government a huge headache last week by voting to strike for up to six months in pursuit of a 29% pay rise, starting with a five-day action from 25-30 July.

In his first interview, Dolphin staunchly defended that 29% figure and said that strikes may go on for a very long time. Despite his Labour background he does not look set to be a pushover for a government desperate to avoid more hospital picket lines.

"They didn't even shortlist me," says Dolphin, a consultant anaesthetist, reflecting on his application to be a candidate in last year's general election.

He had relevant experience as agent for Dawn Butler, the Labour MP for Brent East, at the 2017, 2019 and 2024 general elections. He had chaired Butler's constituency Labour party. And he had also chaired the BMA's resident doctors committee in 2010-12, during a fractious period caused by Andrew Lansley's ill-fated NHS shake-up.