Members of the British Medical Association, represented as gladiators, conceding the introduction of the National Health Service to Aneurin Bevan, represented as Nero. Drawing by E.H. Shepard, 1946.

"The medical profession was initially reluctant to participate in Beveridge's plan, which required work within a state-managed system and restriction on their capacity to determine their own incomes. The election of a Labour government in 1945, which put Aneurin Bevan in as Minister ofHealth, created new difficulties and resulted in a breakdown of negotiations with the British Medical Association (BMA). Bevan exploited existing divisions in the medical profession between generally wealthy consultants and comparatively poorly paid general practitioners to achieve their eventual agreement to work within the NHS." (Liam Donaldson, Essential public health, Petroc Press, forthcoming (2002) (e-mail from Dr Eileen Smith, Office of the Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, 5 June 2002)