Earlier today, Andrew Lansley was just very cross. He wasn’t Leader of the House anymore, and he wasn’t the UK’s nomination for European Commissioner. But in a few hours, the former Health Secretary has gone from just being grumpy to being an international man of mystery. Read his exchange of letters with David Cameron on his departure from the government – and the end of his parliamentary career. I have emphasised a particular point of interest in each.
FROM ANDREW LANSLEY:
Dear Prime Minister,
For nearly nine years, I have been a member of your Shadow Cabinet and Cabinet. This has been a great privilege and I am grateful to you for this.
I am proud of what we achieved: transforming the public’s view of the Conservative Party’s commitment to the NHS; becoming the party most trusted with the NHS by the Service’s 60th Anniversary; shaping and implementing the comprehensive reforms which bring clinical leadership and quality and outcomes to the fore in shaping NHS services; bringing local government leadership and national co-ordination to the promotion of public health; achieving dramatic reductions in the costs of bureaucracy, increased clinical staffing and the lowest ever waiting times.
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