Guess who David Cameron, the British prime minister, has just chosen to take over stewardship of Britain's most cherished institution, the National Health Service? Yes, that's right, the service that taxpayers pay for to provide quality, free healthcare?

None other than Jeremy Hunt: the minister at the centre of a media ethics scandal involving his cosy relationship with the Murdoch empire.

Jeremy Hunt has replaced Andrew Lansley as the UK's health secretary, one of several controversial moves in this week's cabinet reshuffle. This is a man who, as culture secretary, was supposed to judge a Murdoch media takeover bid "impartially", but had sent congratulatory text messages to James Murdoch and called himself a "cheerleader for Murdoch".

Worse still, Hunt takes charge of the NHS just as it's been opened up to corporate interests like never before. His future choices will include a decision on plain packaging for cigarettes – an issue the tobacco lobby is spending millions on trying to swing in their favour.

Dr Kailash Chand, deputy chairman of the British Medical Association, had this to tweet about Hunt's good fortune: "disaster in NHS carries on".

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