GPs face a two year pay freeze and hospital doctors a tiny rise followed by a freeze if the Conservative Party gains power at the next general election.

This is the likely outcome of two days of intensive politicking around the Conservative Party conference, which started on 5 October, as Labour tried to trump any Tory announcement on pay and as George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, started to spell out what a Conservative government would do to cut the United Kingdom’s massive deficit.

For months it has been clear that the public sector in general and the NHS in particular will face a sustained period of pain …