They Blog For You

                      I wish to examine the curious case of the possible resignation of Mr Norman  Lamb. Many people will not have known until the last couple of days the importance of Mr Lamb. He is a trusted adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister. He is a Lib Dem NHS expert, [...]

Following the tabling of our amendments to the Health and Social Care Bill, Frank Field and I have been under predictable attack via the notoriously inaccurate medium of the internet, by both the pro-life and pro-choice lobbies. http://tinyurl.com/... [...]

Yesterday I spent the majority of the day at the North Middlesex University Hospital, not as a patient (I wasn't ill, thankfully), but as an observer, work-shadowing in a number of different departments.It's been a year since the £130 million new facility opened so it was a great opportunity for [...]

I am told that there is a new welcome emphasis on the public’s views at Downing Street. They are taking polling more seriously. It was worries by the public about the Health reforms that lies behind the recent decision to consult again and if necessary to change the plans. I trust [...]

Last night I was put through my paces by an audience in Oxford on BBC Question Time. I was quizzed on the NHS, social mobility, arts funding cuts and the AV referendum. You can watch the episode again here . We had a feisty debate on the NHS - unbelievable for [...]

And so, NHS reforms hit the buffers with speculation in the press that we may not hit the April 2013 deadline for D day, which frankly should be complete nonsense. The only failing of the Health and Social Care Bill, is that no one has explained to... [...]

  Paul Maynard the new Tory MP for Blackpool was on the next table to mine in the Terrace Cafeteria at lunchtime today. I noticed that he was shuffling some papers with intriguing pictures of power stations. He told me that he was speaking in today's final adjournment debate in which [...]

I was recently provided with some particularly alarming statistics on low birth weight babies. After yesterday's post on child poverty I'm sure you're all thinking that it's always doom and gloom around here but I can't help but want to desperately draw people's attention to these figures so that appropriate [...]

Mr John Redwood (Wokingham) (Con): Colleagues on this side of the House will know that the Secretary of State has a great passion for the health service, and great mastery of his brief. Will he confirm, for the sake of all hon. Members, that the object of getting rid of [...]

This interesting article appears on Conservative Home today and highlights the fact that David Cameron is to take responsibility for selling health reform. http://conservativehome.blogs.com/thetorydiary/2011/04/the-principles-of-the-governments-nh... [...]

                    This week-end has seen numerous briefings against the Health Secretary. I have found him to be one of  the best informed, and  most accessible of Cabinet Ministers. He knows his brief well, is aware of the problems of piloting through change to the NHS, and has already secured the [...]

                        As a critic of the regulators in 2006-7 I said the banks should be made to hold more capital. In those days they were too heavily geared. The banks were allowed to lend far too much money with far too little capital to pay the losses if some of the [...]

I think it is ok for me to say that last week I stood down from the Health Select Committee. This is because I have been invited by the Speaker to sit on the Chairman's Panel. I will be chairing Westminster Hall debates, Public Bill Committees, an... [...]

As anyone who's had their blood pressure knows, it's very quick and absolutely 100% painless. But for some reason we seem to put off having it done. However, our aversion to having our blood pressure taken means that we're putting ourselves at risk of having a stroke. I'm an [...]

                  Based on doorstep conversations recently, and visits to speak to Conservative Associations, I encounter the following attitudes. Many Conservatives now see the Coaliti0n government as heavily Lib Dem influenced. They tell me they want changes in policy, to reflect the poor financial condition of the country and the preponderance [...]

From today – 1 April – the NHS in Norfolk will enjoy an extra £54 million, to support key Government priorities such as the Cancer Drugs Fund, investment in talking therapies for those with mental health conditions, 4,200 extra health visitors, and support for carers' breaks. Spending on healthcare in our [...]

Yesterday, Tom Chivers wrote an article on the Daily Telegraph blog attacking the amendment Frank and I are to lay down to the Health and Social Care bill, with regard to abortion counselling, and then went on to outrageously mislead his readers. H... [...]

This video tells the story of Tanya, one of the many women we have spoken to, and Frank and I explaining the solution - how our amendment to the Health and Social Care Bill, will help to prevent the ever increasing number of heart wrenching stories l... [...]

But no more. Today's budget was a drama-drained drone of yesterday's press releases. In his day Gordon Brown was apocalyptic with a Heathcliff booming voice and contrived surprises. Nothing of any significance can be delivered in Osborne's squeaking falsetto. Today I had a choice. Attend my 24th budget speech or chair the [...]

Delyn MP David Hanson walked for water at Westminster today as part of a global campaign to raise...

Delyn MP David Hanson walked for water at Westminster today as part of a global campaign to raise awareness for the world water and sanitation crisis.   Marking the United Nations World Water Day, David Hanson joined hundreds of thousands of people across the globe who walked in solidarity with the almost [...]