Stephen Hawking joined a lawsuit against Jeremy Hunt's destruction of the NHS before he died – remember that when you hear Tory tributes today

One of the many joys of Professor Stephen Hawking is that he was a brilliant scientist who was never some sort of stereotypical, other-worldly academic, content with his research and his Cambridge college. No. Hawking was up for a political scrap, and in Jeremy Hunt he found a worthy, or at least suitable, opponent.

Perhaps in context of the row about Hawking’s views on the NHS, Hunt’s modest tribute to him appears unseemly. Hunt proclaimed that he “was sad that we didn’t agree on everything”, which is an understatement at the very least.

Hawking and Hunt spent quite some time arguing over the NHS, which escalated when Hawking joined a judicial review against the Health Secretary. The Department of Health labelled this as “irresponsible scaremongering”.

Theresa May also paid tribute to Hawking, praising him for his “courage, humour and determination”.

Hawking would not want us to forget about his opinions and his final, highly political crusade. He was, as we have all been reminded, a man of strong passions. When Jeremy Corbyn quoted Hawking at Prime Minister’s Questions, it was a powerful moment and Hawking (though not always a fan of Corbyn) most definitely would have enjoyed it.

The creeping privatisation of the NHS, the not-so-creeping underfunding of it and Hunt’s general arrogance infuriated Hawking, and understandably so. Hawking resented the Government’s massaging of statistics to suit their case, and, in particular the setting up of “Accountable Care Organisations” (ACOs) which contain within them the germ of future privatisation. Creating such entities open up the option of hiving off another significant NHS care sector to private concerns. While this might not necessarily happen and while those private companies might – theoretically – behave with higher standards than some other high-profile recent privatisation failures, none of that was assured.

As Hawking said last year: “Speaking as a scientist, cherry-picking evidence is unacceptable. When public figures abuse scientific argument, citing some studies but suppressing others, to justify policies that they want to implement for other reasons, it debases scientific culture.” It was probably not a wise idea for Hunt to accuse Hawking of “pernicious falsehoods”.

What is more, the changes were being driven through with little public consultation or debate. They were contrary to statute and were, thus, politically, legally and morally illegitimate. It was that hard logic that Hawking believed in, and why he was prepared to take his case to court. It was all he could do.

Usually, “slebs” attaching their names to a good cause or political campaign get slated for perceived hypocrisy. Hawking was such a powerful ally of the NHS, as well as a public Labour Party supporter, because he was no hypocrite, and understood intimately the issues he spoke out about. He didn’t have to do it – he garnered no additional fame or celebrity as a result – and he didn’t use private health provision for himself rather than the services provided by the NHS (some of which no doubt were either privatised or being privatised). Like many, he simply felt disquiet about the depth of the Conservative commitment to the NHS, and Hunt wearing an NHS badge on his jacket lapel wasn’t going to be sufficient to persuade Hawking of the sincerity of the Government’s intentions.

Hawking was a dangerous opponent, and it is a great shame that he did not live long enough to fight and win this battle to its conclusion.